Still Waters, Raging Seas
by meloDRAMAmatic
Summary: There are things that cannot be fought, and though he burns with the urge to try, he knows when to weather the storm. Bitter experience has taught him reign himself in and conserve his strength for the real battles to come. That's why he always seems so calm, because he knows that fighting is rarely the acceptable option. OC!Insert as Fon
1. Chapter 1

He had been about 3 when his awareness of the world finally became strong enough for him to understand. He was glad of this, remembering his own birth or the time period where he wasn't potty-trained would have been humiliating. Admittedly, this existence had seemed rather odd, but it didn't really seem important. He just went along with it. But now he was aware. Aware that this toddler's body was wrong. It wasn't the one he knew.

He had grown up the second child of an upper-middle class family in suburban America. He had an older sister who was awkward and shy and a complete nerd. He had a younger brother who was outgoing and loud and a drama queen. He himself had been a calm medium, often playing diplomat between the two extremes. Morning martial arts practices with all his family together. Weekends spent at competitions with his brother (his sister had been equally talented, but was too shy and had no competitive streak). He remembered evenings reading novels and comics and manga with his sister. He remembered long debates about film/television/anime adaptions versus their original literature, and which was better. School came and went every year till graduation. He remembered cheering for his sister, being cheered for, then cheering for his brother.

Most devastating in his memory, was the diagnosis. It had been exhausting and painful. Struggling to get through what was once a warm-up kata. Barely able to keep food down. He had fought it. Over and over he had fought the illness until he was bedridden, then he had kept fighting. And when he could fight no more, his family had fought for him.

His shy, shrinking-violet of a sister would march into his hospital room with a stack of manga. Beware any nurse or doctor that tried to enforce visiting hours with her around! His boisterous brother recounting the mishaps of their martial arts classes as calmly as he could manage. His loving parents had searched so long for a donor or a cure. All of them arranging their schedules so that he was alone as little as possible.

All their fierce strength hadn't been enough to save him. He doesn't remember dying. He remembers saying goodbye, being tired, knowing he wasn't going to wake up, falling asleep; but he doesn't remember the moment of death. It's a blessing.

So he knows that he should not be here. Should not be three years old. Should not be the only child. Should not be in _China,_ of all places. Should not understand the language that is spoken. Should not speak it himself. But he is and he does and he cannot change it. It is like his illness, but instead of an ending looming over him, it is the beginning of an unforeseeable journey stretching before him.

Now that he has some awareness, he has come to some conclusions. The plasticity of a child's brain is most likely what allowed him to pick up the language so quickly. He is probably in a time period from before he was born (in his first life): there aren't any cell phones or computers, no signs of futuristic technology, even though he appears to be in a wealthy household, though a member of a servants' family. This new family is very powerful and does things that are very illegal: there are always people coming and going in the dead of night, hushed voices and ominous double meanings are used whenever 'business' is discussed, and police and government officials are spoken of like pets or nuisances. He is being groomed as an enforcer or worse: even before he could properly walk he had been started on martial arts training, he was encouraged to be silent and impassive unless directly addressed, and all the 'games' he plays involve identifying and attacking weak points.

He has also concluded he is very good at it. The martial arts seem to carry over from his old life, along with his discipline and awareness. If anything, they come easier than ever before. He seems to be in the body of a prodigy. The changes are strange: he is better coordinated (even at this age) than he ever was; he absorbs knowledge like it would get taken away from him otherwise; and he cannot be idle. He can sit still physically – years of martial arts discipline at work – but his mind is always going going _going._ Everything in him cries out to be in motion, to attack the problem or threat, to keep working till it everything is fixed. He masters this desire like he did everything else.

The illness was not something he could fight, and neither is this new life or body. At this age, he cannot do anything to change his circumstances. He must simply weather them. So he coils his restlessness tight, only to be allowed out during katas and martial arts lessons. They think he is a well-behaved child. A young genius, he is always pleasant and smiling, only crying when he cannot help it and always silent when it happens.

He remembers something his sister revealed, the first time he witnessed her having an anxiety attack, "when people cry loudly, it is because – more than anything else – they need someone to notice; when people cry silently, it is because – more than anything else – they cannot stop." In the night, when there is no one to notice, he cannot stop the tears. He misses them. This too, cannot be changed.

It takes time, but he mourns his loss and accepts his circumstances. He has developed very little attachment to this family, but there is a slight fondness. At least he reacts properly to his new name: Fon. Months later, he notices a new development: he is going to have a sibling. This reaches his heart where nothing else could.

His mother is a distant figure, always away doing whatever work it is that she does. He has never met his father, and such a figure has never been referenced. Whatever male role-model he could require is fulfilled by his instructors. The other adults around are distant and see him as a potential commodity. There are few other children, and they are usually kept away from him (Fon seems to be a lower class). But to be a sibling again! He loved his sibling more than life, _before,_ and Fon knows his heart well enough to know that it will not change now.


	2. Chapter 2

He keeps living and learning and pulling his emotions into a tight ball within him. It is knotted tightly around his heart and he thinks he can feel it burning through his skin, sometimes. Allowing it out for martial arts lessons alleviates the pressure for now, but someday it will explode out of him. It has become obvious he is in the household of the leader of the Wo Hop To Triad. Working helps him avoid thinking about this aspect of his reality.

 _Before_ he had been a perfectionist, he is more than that now. He no longer practices till he gets things right, he now practices till he stops getting them wrong. A mistake during a kata means he will repeat it till he can do it perfectly for hours without stopping. A mistake in calligraphy and he practices till his hands tremble and he sees kanji in his sleep. A mistake in his lessons and he will reread his books till he can quote them. Fon is not yet four and he might have some form of obsessive compulsive disorder.

His sibling is to be born soon. As his excitement builds, so does the burning in his chest. His perfectionism actually helps somewhat. Satisfaction after hours of practice seems to lessen the ache. He's not sure what that says about him, but it seems unimportant. His mother is soon bedridden. She seems happy enough to see him, and his joy about have a sibling pleases her. She hasn't said a word about a father, and he doesn't ask. He cannot bring himself to care about someone who has never visited, or shown himself.

As time passes, martial arts lessons get harder. Every style they teach him is drilled to muscle memory. At this point, he has seven fully mastered and is currently working on five more. He has developed katas that pull from all of them, to keep everything fresh in his mind. It ensures that he never has to waste time thinking during a spar, and just uses the most effective method available. There is something unreal about this world, that someone as young as he is capable of these things. But even the people here consider him a prodigy.

Actually, they consider him something of an idiot savant. While Fon absorbs all the information around him and learns any lesson he is given, he tries not to outwardly react. There is a difference between _knowing_ and _comprehending._ If they thought he understood everything that goes on around him, they would limit him. Currently, they think he is like a trained pet or a parrot: dutifully repeating what he is taught, without understanding what it means.

It changes when he turns four and kills a man. On the morning of his fourth birthday he is dressed in his best clothes and brought to the Mountain Master's meeting room. When his sifu tells him to, he runs through his assigned katas and is praised for his progress. Then, he is directed to kneel off to the side, and he makes a show of playing with his sleeves and smiling. He is an easily amused child, after all. A man is dragged in and placed on his knees in the center of the room. Fon's sifu takes Fon by the arm and tells him that this is a very bad man. This man is a traitor and would have let bad things happen to Fon's mother and the baby in her tummy. Fon is told to snap the man's neck. Fon does so.

That evening Fon silently cries himself to sleep. Never, in either life, had he been responsible for the death of another. He understands now, how he has been desensitized to death. Trips to 'help' in the kitchen led to him assisting in cutting up freshly slaughtered fish and chicken. Later, he helped slaughter them. The adults' carefully explained that death released all living things into their next life. (Fon struggled – and thankfully managed – not to laugh at the irony.) The poor crippled old dog Fon help his sifu put down. All of it led up to Fon taking his first life. His only relief is that Sifu was telling the truth: the man was a traitor and would have allowed harm to come to Fon's family. Fon has learned to read his teacher well enough for that.

It is a cold comfort. He knows it will only get worse from here. Fon will do anything for the people he loves. The Triad will use him. It is too late to fake incompetence or squeamishness: this body was neither even before Fon became truly aware. Fon is a prodigy of violence and death.

A month after his first kill, Fon's little sister comes into the world. She is called Mei, using the kanji for 'beautiful' because that is what she is. Even bright red, crying, and still blood-covered, she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. _Before_ he had been too young to remember his brother's birth or infanthood; _now_ he is going to appreciate every second he can of Mei's.

Lessons have only gotten harder since his first kill. He returns to their small servants' quarters exhausted and bruised every night. It is a treat to spend that time with his sister. After recovering from the birth, his mother spent her days caring for Mei. When he arrived home, she would leave to do whatever work it is she did. She would always be returning as he left for his lessons at dawn. Fon is not sure what to think of his mother. She gave him Mei, and for that he loves her; but as a person, he is barely more than fond of her. She barely speaks to him. They just coexist, with their only real commonality being Mei.

Outside of his little family, Fon only cares about Sifu. The man is strict and demanding, but a good teacher. He allows no disrespect or distraction in his lessons, on the part of anyone. Even so, Sifu cannot drive Fon as hard as Fon drives himself. He improves in leaps and bounds. Before he knows it, he is seven years old and has mastered 24 different styles. They can be used interchangeably or he can limit himself to one in combat. Sifu had to bring in experts from other styles so Fon could continue to learn. Fon thinks he likes aikido best, but he has been molded for combat and confrontation and has little use for a pacifist's style. Fon has killed over 35 people. Some of them he executed, others he was pitted against in fights, and the remainder he assassinated.

For assassinations, he would be brought to the Mountain Master or his Deputy and be told a name and what the person had done (lately, he has only been told a name). Then he would be brought to an area his target would frequent or sometimes their home. He is small and adorable. It is easy to lure them into an isolated area or talk his way into their home. All the deaths so far have been cleanly snapped necks. For now, he is considered too young for the messier task of making a statement.

The other students do not appreciate his skill. They try to corner him and use numbers to teach 'the upstart' a lesson. He fights back and wins. He does not kill them. It makes most of them angry, but others are humbled and give Fon their respect. The cycle continues over and over. Fon is accustomed to fending off ambushes, but on occasion his friendlier classmates will notify him to an attempt.

Mei is three and beautiful as a porcelain doll, without any of the fragility. She seems to be a prodigy similar to him, without the advantages of a _before_. Even at this early stage, she seems to have gravitated to more weapons-oriented combat. She is intelligent and determined, but does not have his aching need to come at each new task as if it is a battle to be won.

Whenever he hears suggestions that she should be pushed harder, he increases his own training or undertakes a particularly complex sequence. Sifu knows him and sees what he is doing, but the other instructors get distracted in just the way Fon intends. Sometimes, Fon hears whispers that Mei should be given her desensitization as early as Fon was. He volunteers to add a few more kills onto his conscience. As long as the Triad has enough killers, Mei will be spared.

At ten, he is formally initiated into the Wo Hop To Triad as a '49er' or a common soldier by the Incense Master. Fon thinks he would have appreciated the ceremony more, if it wasn't a 'reward' for his 100th kill. The 36 Oaths initiates swear are good in theory, but a bit of a joke in practice. They are supposed to unite the 'sworn brothers' and prevent backstabbing or infighting. Fon knows people will be people, regardless of circumstance. No oath will prevent those with power from using it against those without. Becoming a member was not something he could fight. He thought about it.

Escaping would be of little difficulty, but he could not leave Mei. Taking her with him was not doable. Though she was brilliant, she was still only six. Supporting himself and a small child would have been difficult. At this point, Fon knows the power of the Wo Hop To. They would pursue him faster than he can escape with Mei. And he cannot risk Mei being punished, either for his escape or for being taken along. So he bottles up the rage and helplessness.

There are things he cannot fight, but it will not stop him. Fighting the illness did not stop his death. Fighting the Triad will only cause trouble for Mei. The blood on his hands cannot be fought. His induction into a criminal organization cannot be fought. None of these things will stop him, so he will live with them.

He will pretend that he sees nothing wrong with being a skilled assassin before he can see over the kitchen counters. He will behave politely and professionally toward classmates that would stab him in the back. He will smile and pretend nothing hurts when Mei asks about his day or his training. To do otherwise would be to give in, to snap, to destroy everything. No matter how much it burns, he will not stop fighting in the only way he can.


	3. Chapter 3

His sister is eight years old and a prodigy. It is becoming more and more difficult to distract the instructors from arranging her first kill. Fon is more on edge every day. Not even obsessive practice is enough to quiet the burning. It's not just Mei impending fate that troubles him. Practice is becoming more difficult. The only peace he gets is during daily meditation and chores. Meditation may not soothe the burn of everything Fon is suppressing, but it helps him contain it just that much longer. It allows him to arrange his thoughts in his head and understand why he feels some of the things he does. The method that works best for him, is sitting quietly with a cup of tea. Any tea will do, but he likes the strong ones best, in the mornings.

Fon has started to adore his chores, since being assigned to the kitchens. Though he knows his earliest visits had a more sinister purpose, he cannot help but love the place. Cooking and baking are two more things he is good at, but for different reasons. Cooking is all about experimentation and finding the best flavor. Baking is all about precision and timing. There is comfort in the knowledge that he can use his talents to create, he is not just a weapon.

Since he was initiated, Fon's worst opponents have stopped being as obvious. His stealth has improved greatly because of the semi-regular ambushes. Any food he is given, that he has not at least watched being prepared, is subtly disposed of. He has gotten into the habit of cooking all his and Mei's meals. (Sometimes he is tired and cannot bring himself to eat, but he always ensures Mei is well-fed.) None of the adult members of the Triad have tried to kill him yet, but they are worse in ways. They will whisper behind their hands or just talk as if he is not there. Fon refuses to react to it; if he reacts, they win. It feels as if he is constantly fighting without fighting. Outwardly, Fon is as impassive as always. He is always smiling contentedly and his body language is completely unruffled. If he stands still, he could be mistaken for a statue.

The only people close to seeing through his façade are Mei and Sifu. His mother is rarely around; as soon as Mei was old enough to attend lessons, their mother was back to whatever she usually did. Mei adored him and constantly sought his approval. She always watches him closely and tries to imitate him. Fon knows his sister is aware he is not as… together as he presents, but she does not see the extent. The extra hugs were nice, though. Sifu knew Fon had bad days and did his best to make them better: reviewing old kata, extra meditations, sending him to the kitchen. An outsider would think Fon was being punished, but they both knew Fon found these things soothing. Neither of them knew the extent of his difficulties. Fon has a lifetime of memories keeping them at bay.

 _Before_ , he had been the child his parents didn't have to worry about. He had been calm and reassuring when his sister had an anxiety attack. If his brother was running wild, he would be trailing behind and cleaning up the mess. Constant and content. Even when he got sick, he pretended everything was fine until he could no longer hide the trembling, nosebleeds, and exhaustion. Bedridden in the hospital, he hadn't the energy to do much. Still he had refused to worry them; smiling and thanking them for keeping him company. If the pain became too much, he would apologize and claim tiredness. They would leave to allow him to sleep, and he would allow himself to cry. _Now,_ nothing quite seems that bad. He was healthy and, as long as Mei was okay, he could live with anything.

It's been a particularly bad week. He was having difficulty with a new sequence of katas. There were two attempted ambushes in the last three days. The instructors won't put off Mei's first kill much longer; she is simply too talented. The Triad is also becoming shorthanded, so he had four new kills too his name. He is walking with Mei back to their quarters and he is exhausted. It is late. They run across two of the more hostile 49ers. The men have been drinking and are blocking the walking path.

"Hey, hey look. It's the whore's kids." They must think they are being discreet.

"Disgrace, should get rid of them now so they won't taint us anymore." Fon has always known he and Mei were illegitimate. People are usually hostile for other reasons, though.

"Maybe we should. But it would be a waste." Fon does not like the way that one is smiling.

"What do ya mean?"

"They're pretty. Might as well have some fun with them first." Now the other one smiles.

"Wonder if the girl is as talented as her mother must be."

Fon is going for the man's throat before he even fully processes the statement. His world has gone red. It's funny, Fon has heard the expression, but it is like a red haze in front of him. He snaps the man's neck. The other man is screaming. Fon doesn't understand why. He hasn't even hit him yet. When he does, he goes for the ribcage. It's a more painful death. Or it would be. The man is crumbling to ash, screaming all the while. Fon looks for the body of the first man and sees only ash.

Mei is calling for him. She needs him. Now is not the time to be upset. The red fades. Sifu is there, holding Mei. He goes to them. It's harder to walk than it has been for a long time. Fon hasn't been this exhausted since _before._ Sifu catches him before he hits the ground.

The next morning, he is dressed in his best clothes and brought to the Mountain Master's office. He bows and kneels, as is proper, as is expected. The Mountain Master, his Deputy, and the Incense Master are present. This must be incredibly important. They ask him questions about what occurred. He answers the way he always does. He smiles blankly and describes what he saw bluntly, in uncomfortably graphic detail. It is passive-aggressive and morbid, but he likes to see them squirm. See them react and realize just what they have created. Then they have Sifu explain things to him. Sifu is not cruel, but he has never been accused of being soft. The… gentleness he uses to explain scares Fon almost as much as the realizations he has. Sifu says that he demonstrated a very powerful ability. This ability is dangerous and rare. What he has are called Dying Will Flames of the Storm.

Fon is twelve years old. He is currently studying a dozen martial arts styles and has mastered 56. His kill count is over three times that. He has Dying Will Flames. Dying Will Flames are from KHR. His is a Triad assassin, martial artist, with Storm Flames. He is _that_ Fon. How had he not noticed this?!


	4. Interlude: Flames

Training with his Flames is always… interesting. At first, the new teachers were focused on ensuring he didn't destroy everything in sight. It wasn't all that difficult. Fon has always kept a tight lid on his reactions. Once the teachers realize he has the control to shut down his Flames, they work on igniting them on command instead of being triggered by outside forces. At first, it seemed the only way to activate them was a threat to Mei. They were called Dying Will Flames for a reason. The only thing in existence that he would protect with his Dying Will was Mei. Not a classmate or Sifu or even himself. Even suffering extreme physical pain, Fon just didn't consider important enough. Learning to tap into that mindset and those emotions was surprisingly easy.

Once he realized it what he was feeling he could reach it reliably, almost like a switch in his head. The teachers had seemed surprised that is was a _protect-at-all-costs_ thing and not a _destroy-what-opposes-me_ thing. Fon would feel insulted if he A) cared and B) had the energy. Using Flames takes a lot out of him, but his stamina increases with practice. Soon, he can use his Storm Flames for hours on end before he collapses.

Eventually he starts playing around with more creative uses for his Flames. In his regular training, he is learning to dodge bullets. The exercise uses what are essentially bb pellets, fired at slowly increasing speeds. While he is not yet skilled enough for a bullet's speed, Fon has made decent progress. He tried to use his Flames during practice once and discovered that he can vaporize any projectiles within five feet of himself, but it is incredibly draining. Incidentally, Fon has found it fairly easy to vaporize projectiles that have hit him and lodged under his skin.

That is what inspires him to try using Flames against poison. It is definitely a bad idea, but Fon has long given up on meals prepared by anyone else. He doesn't know if it is jealousy or fear or something else entirely, but the poisoning attempts didn't stop when his Flames activated. As much as he enjoys cooking, it would be nice to eat something that he didn't have to put work into making. The first few attempts go poorly; the food vaporizes in his mouth. Spitting ash out is both disgusting and undignified. He is glad that he experiments in private; Mei would never let him live this down. After a few – more careful – attempts he thinks he has it down. It is something like a Flame meditation. Fon still avoids most cooking but his own, but he tries out the technique at least once a day. After two months, there is a particularly busy week where he doesn't have time to cook for anyone but Mei. Fainting during his afternoon training is incredibly embarrassing.

Consultation with the doctors determines he is underweight and suffering from malnutrition. Apparently, he didn't just burn the poison out of the food; he burned out the calories and nutrients. It takes a couple days before they let him out of Medical. Sifu looks after Mei during that time, even though she insists she doesn't need it. Once he gets out, Mei and Sifu make certain he eats and keep him from experimenting. It takes a while to convince them to allow him even supervised Flame training. Mostly he meditates.

It is actually the meditation that gives him the breakthrough he needs. One of his meditation techniques consists of sitting and assessing how his body feels. He can tell if his blood sugar is low or if he's dehydrated, if he may catch a cold soon or if he is going to develop bruises from training. It is a meditation he has neglected lately, to his chagrin. Maybe he would have noticed his Flame technique wasn't working properly. He meditates and considers how his body feels. Concentrating on the dietary supplements he was given was interesting. The way they flowed through him and affected him taught him what nutrients should feel like.

Once he had a good sense for it, he applied his Flames to anything that didn't affect him like nutrients should. It was difficult and took a lot of concentration. When he slipped up – it happened less and less as he practiced – he fell back into burning everything out of his system. That had actually become a worrisome reflex. When he was stressed and hadn't made the food, Sifu and Mei had to remind him not to do it. But he had learned to burn away poisons! It took a couple months of (carefully supervised) practice, but he could do it with barely a thought.


	5. Chapter 4

Life goes on, but it changes for a while after that. Training focuses on flames more than martial arts. His clothes are changed from what he used to be given. The black pants and soft shoes he always wears stay, but any top he wears is red. It is all of finer quality than he was previously permitted. People treat him differently as well. They bow in the hall and give him a wide berth. Classmates that used to ambush him now avoid him like the plague. Teachers that used to run him through katas till he could hardly stand now encourage him to meditate. His mother has shown more fondness for him than she ever did previously. Mei and Sifu do not change. It's what keeps him from snapping at someone. Or just snapping.

(Why couldn't it have been some slice-of-life manga? Ouran High School Host Club would have been a vacation; a melodramatic vacation, but still a vacation. Yuri on Ice would have been great. He had never tried ice skating before, in either life. On the bright side, it could have been worse. Boku no Hero Academia would have been stressful at best. Naruto? A hopefully quick death at best, but a guaranteed death for all background characters. What ifs never solved anything. At least he was in a story that would end well. It would take years, but the world would be saved and the Arcobaleno would no longer need to be sacrificed. Most of it is out of his control. Fon can just concentrate on training and let everything happen.)

Fon is now valuable to the Triad. Those who have Flames are in high demand, but short supply. It has its upsides; the Wo Hop To is now invested in keeping Fon alive and sane. They are also invested in ensuring he does not leave. His teachers have started him on linguistics and mediation. It's clear his is now being trained as a diplomat or official with fire power; someone they can send in for negotiations to show that Wo Hop To has the upper hand. It's rather lucky for them Fon has no plans to leave the Triads or China at this point. As long as Mei is here, Fon is here. Sifu is an adult who made his choices. Mei would someday get to choose what she wanted, Fon would guarantee it.

At this point, Mei is about 90% of his morals and impulse control. He can't do anything that might get Mei punished. He won't do anything that Mei would hate him for. She knows he's a murderer, but she also knows he cares for her and would do anything to keep her safe and happy. He never had to tell her the two things were related. The few lines he's managed to keep from crossing all involve children, because of Mei. He won't harm them, kill them or orphan them. So far, it hadn't really been a problem. When he's thirteen, it becomes one.

A particularly high up official gives him an assignment. The goal is to make a statement to a group infringing on the Wo Hop To's territory. His target is the son of the opposing groups' leader. The boy is nine, same age as Mei. He has never been asked to kill someone younger than him before. He refuses. The official has him whipped. 40 lashes. He doesn't remember too much about it. He was feverish for a few days after.

Later, he finds out the official did not have permission for it. That the entire operation was a bid for more influence within the Triad. The official is dead now. Executed by the Deputy Mountain Master. It would be reassuring, if he didn't have the memory of Mei's tears in his mind and the pull of healing wounds at his back. At least he has the answer to a question that had long nagged him. Fon and Mei's father is the Deputy Mountain Master. The man is distant and cold, and he has no personal love or care for them. But their mother is the man's favorite and she is somewhat fond of them. They are also highly skilled and can be put to good use. In combination, they are worth extending some protection over.

No protection lasts forever, though. Mei commits her first kill at eleven, when Fon is fifteen. She came back that night and cried with him, silently. Later, she tells Fon she doesn't regret it. She feels nothing for the man. He did not matter to her. She cried because she might be a monster. Fon tells her that their situation is difficult. They can only afford to care about the people they love. If she is a monster, he is too. Either way, he will always love her.

Missions have always been fairly routine, but they get harder as he gets older. When he was a child they used to deliver him directly to his target's location. Tracking them without assistance or instruction started when he was about seven. It is the only time he is away from the compound, and he cannot help but enjoy it. He has been allowed to do this alone since he was ten. It is peaceful and he can see normal people and interact with them. Fon always loved people, in both lives. Crowds weren't his thing; but interacting with new people, seeing them go about their day, and learning new things was a quiet joy.

 _Before_ , he had worked in a little café all through high school. Now, he loves to walk through the marketplace. As long as he returns to the compound before his specified time, he can do as he wishes. Sometimes he buys snacks or little gifts for Mei. It feels wrong to buy these things, but it would be worse and it would draw attention to steal them. Fon is not paid and he has never been given an allowance. He gets the money from the wallets of his kills. It helps keep the authorities distracted. He passes through the marketplace and heads towards his target's location.

At fifteen, he still looks very young; getting a target alone is easy. Sometimes he'll play the lost child or the messenger. He recently started using a new ruse: pretending to be an underage prostitute. It started when a previous target mistook him for one. Fon had no regrets over that kill. It's an easy ruse and even those that aren't… interested in getting him alone don't become suspicious of anything else. He is also androgynous enough that the target's preferences don't really matter. Sure some targets get a little handsy, but it's nothing Fon can't fight off once he gets them out of sight.

He isn't going to use a ruse on this target. He doesn't usually bother with one, if the target is alone. Fon is going to be completely honest about who he is and what he is here to do. Warning them is the closest he can get to an apology for the innocent ones. They don't believe him: he's too sweet and innocent looking. (The ones who know enough to believe he is telling the truth, and be afraid of him? They are not innocent.)

Twice, he tried to return without killing his target. The first time, he claimed he could not find the man. For incompetence, he was given 20 lashes and he took them gladly. The second time, he claimed the man grew suspicious and ran from him. He was still small enough, then, for them to believe he couldn't catch up. That earned him 10 lashes and speed training till he could hardly stand. Both times the target was tracked down, dragged in, and tortured to death. Fon was brought to the room each time, to witness the results of failure.

The target is at his home. Fon climbs the side of the building and goes through an open window on the second floor. The man is in his office. He freezes and his eyes widen when Fon enters. Before Fon has finished telling the man why he is there, the man pulls a gun. It doesn't do him any good. Neck snapped and body growing cold, Fon searches the man's office. New to the area and trying to break in on Wo Hop To territory. He was a drug dealer with contacts in human trafficking. Honestly, Fon had been a bit relieved when the man tried to shoot him. Knowing the target was drowning in guilt made for a lighter conscience.

It didn't clean the blood from Fon's hands.


	6. Chapter 5

The burning ache in his chest is a constant. Now that he can use his flames it's less painful, but it is always present. Fon sometimes wonders if it is directly related to the emotions he locked so deeply inside himself. Other times, he thinks if he ever pulled at that knot of _loss-anger-pain-guilt-frustration-helplessness_ he would burn the world to ashes. Since he cannot allow that, he just draws those feelings tighter and tighter; pushes them deeper and deeper. He focuses on Mei and martial arts and cooking.

Having mastered 79 martial arts styles, Fon had long experimented with combining them to better suit his own body type and fighting style. Incorporating food had been an accident and was completely not his fault. He had been using a large amount of ground garlic as he cooked and was alone, because the others couldn't handle the amount of spice he preferred. Being ambushed was extremely unexpected (people didn't do that very often anymore) and he had thrown what he was holding at his attacker. The way the man went limp was a shock.

Several weeks of (very delicious) experimentation resulted in a move Fon decided to call Gyoza-kempo. It was the food that worked best, and no one would expect that to be a terrifyingly effective martial arts move. The end result almost made it look like he was psychic. The garlic disrupted voluntary muscle control in his opponent and their body would move to his command. Mei fell over laughing when it backfired on him while he was figuring it out. It was worth it. Her laugh was the greatest thing in existence.

He didn't hear it often, and almost never when they were within the walls of the Wo Hop To Triad's compound. Whenever he could, Fon got permission to tag along on Mei's missions. He argued that a young girl alone was more suspicious than a young girl accompanied by her older brother. It was true. It helped that the Triad also tended to be rather misogynistic, in some ways. There were no women in the leadership and they were discouraged from taking roles that took them out of the compound. Mei was the exception: she was simply too talented to keep away from a fight.

She was also a force of nature when angered or if someone was infringing on her time or space. It was annoying that Mei did not get the same respect that the boys her age got, but sometimes it worked in her favor. And by her favor, Fon meant that it kept her out of some of the things he faced. The Triads had an odd aversion to directly hurting a woman. The first few occasions that Mei committed a severe infraction, she had been locked up without food for a few days. It did nothing to quell her spirit. After that, they brought in Fon and whipped him. Mei learned from that, but not the lesson their masters had intended. She learned to hide her anger, to be subtle in her rebellion.

Fon thoroughly approved of Mei's new methods. To the rest of the Triad, Mei had become a prim and proper young lady. Mei was the textbook example of manners, but there would always be something off about her. She became a little too perfect. Eerie in her adherence to proper behavior, nothing could crack her composure. Even in the middle of an assassination she was proper and obedient. It gave the impression that she was acting out a script. The Triad members became jumpy and uncomfortable around her. It was hilarious.

She had been trying to copy Fon's mannerisms and self-control. It worked for Fon by making him seem air-headed and a bit dull. Mei was too sharp, too threatening, for it to be believable. Everyone thought she was plotting something and became more paranoid the longer she behaved. Even people who had just met her were wary of her. As a result, Mei and Fon got sent on more missions, to get her away from the compound.

It is on one of these missions that Fon fights another Flame-user for the first time. A few of his Flame teachers had Flames but he had never fought them, only sparred. There was a world of difference between sparring and fighting. The man was a Lightning from another Triad and was a bodyguard for their target. Mei had gone after the target, who had tried to escape. The Lightning wasn't as skilled as Fon, but he had the height and weight advantage. Fon's speed more than made up for it, but the Lightning had a shell of Flames preventing damage. Unleashing his own Flames startled the other man, but the shell held. It seems to be a question of stamina. Fon can fight for nearly an hour with his Flames, and there's no telling how long his opponent will last. He has a sudden and shocking realization.

Fon could die here.

The man is fully grown, and so has the advantage in size and stamina. Fon may not win. He could be beaten to death, or have his neck snapped. And wouldn't that be ironic? Mei is his first concern. But she can take care of herself, she doesn't need him the way she had as a child. He doesn't want to make her sad but he was going to die at some point. Sifu might be sad, but he has a family of his own – a child of his own – to worry about.

Fon could die and the world would keep turning. The world didn't stop _before,_ for a teenager with cancer and his life cut short. It won't stop for a teenager with a body count too high to keep track of. Maybe it would be better to die? One less murderer in the world, and it's not like he's irreplaceable. He had been a background character in that manga his _other_ sister used to read with him _before_. Memories of that story are faded, but Fon is sure that he dies at some point in it. What's a few decades early?

But does he want to die? It would be so easy. Stop fighting, and let his Flames fade. He would never have to fight or kill or starve or hurt again. Just let go and let others take over. It would be so easy. But he doesn't want easy. If he wanted things to be easy, he would not have learned to fight. Learned to burn out poisons. Learned to cook and experiment and speak other languages. They had taught him, but he had gone above and beyond because he wanted to know and learn and explore.

Fon wants to live.

With that realization, his Flames explode and burn and consume more fiercely than ever before. It wasn't been about stamina, it was about Will. The man's Lightning doesn't stand a chance. Fon burns through the shell of Lightning flames like it's air, like it's fuel for his Storm. His opponent tries to fight, but Fon is fast as wind and much more skilled. The man's body is disintegrated till not even ashes remain.

Fon is seventeen years old. He has master 84 styles of martial arts, and is incorporating a dozen others. He is developing his own style. He enjoys cooking and learning new things and messing with his Triad. He loves his sister. He wants to live. Not because of some vague memories of a story from _before_. Not out of some condescending desire to protect his sister. Not out of fear of the _in-between_ he cannot remember. He wants to live for himself.


	7. Chapter 6

Realizing that he wants to live changes everything and nothing. The smiling calm he projects to the world becomes more real, less of an act. He finds joy in watching people try and fail to upset him, when he previously had to concentrate on maintaining the façade. The knot in his chest is still there, and it still aches, but it doesn't pull at him the same way. His thoughts drift less towards that dark place. His Storm Flames burn even stronger than before, but they ache less inside him. Whenever he calls them, they leap to his aid, giddy and joyful and eager. For the first time in years, he puts work into not burning more than necessary.

Between meditation and his new-found peace, finding a new method of control isn't too complicated. It's similar and completely different to how he learned to burn off poison. He knows how his Flames used to feel, and they've changed. Meditation helps him explore the changes. Fon finds that he doesn't mind the difference. When he found he didn't want to die, it was like he unlocked a part of his Flames he had never before been able to reach. It also unlocked possibilities he had never before considered.

He always does Flame training in a specially-reinforced warehouse. Burning poisons out of his system was all about directing his Flames at a very specific target; here, he concentrates on shaping them. He only puts enough Will in to manifest them, putting most of his focus into keeping them from disintegrating anything. They dance in his hands and coil around him, twisting and turning and weaving up his arms. The warmth and joy they give him is the purest thing he's felt since his childhood _before._ Even Mei's birth had been shadowed with the knowledge that the world she had been born into was dangerous.

As he kneels and allows his Flames to spiral around him, their shape starts to become more defined. Instead of trying to see the shape or make it clearer, he closes his eyes. He concentrates on the warmth and strength and reassurance that they bring him. Later, he will never be able to describe how long he spent there; on his knees in the center of that warehouse with Storm Flames circling him like a friendly cat. When he does open his eyes, he's tired. Fon has been tired since he became a murderer at four. He's been tired since _before_ , when he was too young and dying. This tired is new, it's a pleasant tired.

The last time he felt this kind of tired, he had spent an entire day cooking with Mei. There was a shortage of kitchen staff due to a week-long flu when Fon was eight. If it had been any other time they could have made due, but there was a celebration for the initiation of the Mountain Master's son. The day before, Fon and Mei were dismissed from their lessons to help. It was exhausting and wonderful. The entire day was spent cooking and sneaking tastes and giggling with Mei as she learned the names of all the ingredients and the proper way to hold a knife. He didn't have to train or fight or kill, just create delicious treats. It was nonstop all day and he fell into bed exhausted, but it was one of his happiest memories of this life.

Opening his eyes is harder than he expected, he's that tired. It's worth it though. He is staring into the face of a dragon made of his Flames.

Fon spends weeks trying to form the dragon outside deep meditation. The obsessive tendencies that drive his martial arts have always carried over to his Flame experiments. Part of him, mostly from _before_ , knows it's unhealthy; the way he does nothing but perfect his craft for hours, days, weeks. He doesn't eat or sleep at regular intervals or in great enough amounts. The only 'breaks' he takes are for missions he and Mei are assigned. Eventually it catches up to him like it always does. Fatigue and lightheadedness is his first sign of problems, and due to his minor issues with food they are familiar nuisances. Mei reads him the riot act when she sees how pale he is, and has Sifu restrict his training.

After a few days of eating and sleeping better, he is allowed back to his experiments. Sifu supervises him and Fon would be annoyed, except Sifu gives really good feedback and advice. The progress they make is so impressive Fon hides the minor fever that's been annoying him. Headaches are more irritating – as they impair his concentration – but he's trained with much worse, so those are also ignored. Then he does it. A dragon brought into existence with all the destructiveness and beauty of the storms for which his Flames are named. He calls it the Exploding Lotus Kempo.

Honestly, the name is an inside joke. It is actually completely unrelated to the move. Mei had been keeping him company and was complaining about the weird names people give moves. She had asked what kind of idiot called out the name of a move in the middle of combat. Fon completely agreed, because that is the kind of thing that gets people killed. During her rant, she actually used 'Exploding Lotus' as an example and Fon had jumped on the chance to tease her. Every time he says the name, she cringes. It's glorious. Sifu is so done with their antics.

The tattoo is something like a reward and a reminder. An intricate dragon whose head rests at his heart and body coils down his left arm. It is a reward for his progress, both with Flames and for mastering his 100th martial art style. It also reminds him that he wants to live. Maybe being a Triad member with a dragon tattoo is stereotypical, but Fon chose it for his Flames. Getting the tattoo hurt a bit, but he expected that. Purposefully scraping skin open to put in ink is going to hurt. It felt like having bad sunburn, and after a week it was pretty much healed.

Now if only the headaches and dizziness would stop.


	8. Chapter 7

Fon knows something is wrong. He's tried to take better care of himself, but the headaches, fatigue, and pain have only gotten worse. He knows these symptoms from _before._ It can't be _that_ though. There's no way the universe is cruel enough to give him _that_ again. It has to be something else. Fon starts avoiding food again: eating only what he's cooked or what Mei and Sifu bring him. It doesn't help, so he probably isn't being poisoned. Not that he's vulnerable to poison; Fon is careful to use Poison Disintegration whenever he isn't completely certain the food is safe. Contrary to what would be convenient, his life doesn't stop at the realization he's ill. Even if he was inclined to tell them, the Triad wouldn't let him out of his assignments. He usually has assignments about four times a week.

This job seems like a typical assassination at first, and it isn't hard to get to his target. He doesn't bother with a ruse and simply climbs in through a third story window. Fon is surprised when the target isn't alone. He doesn't know why the guy is here (if he's the target's bodyguard or lover or both, Fon doesn't judge) but he's pretty impressive. In this crazy world, sometimes he forgets that non-Flame-users can be just as dangerous as Flame-users. This man uses a variety of poison, which Fon was not as prepared for as he would have expected.

Throwing knives coated in poison don't even faze Fon because he's fast enough to dodge bullets. He doesn't need to use his Flames if he doesn't get hit. Then the man drops a capsule that disperses a mist into the air. When Fon had taught himself Poison Disintegration, he had been focused on what he ingested. Given the frequency with which people in the Triad tried to poison his food, it only made sense. He's never prepared himself for inhalants. Seeing the poison dissolve into the air, Fon feels vulnerable for the first time in a long time.

He didn't know he was still capable of panic.

His Flames react. They explode out of him in a way he hasn't experienced since they first activated. Fon has enough control to direct them to burn everything around him. The room is on fire and his target is dead and his opponent is dead, but there is poison in the air. He doesn't know how far it spread, or how potent it is. He doesn't want to die and the air isn't an opponent he can fight. At some point he realizes that his Storm Flames coat him like a second skin. Trying not to breathe, he makes his way to the warehouse he uses for Flame training.

It's been years since he needed meditation to perform Poison Disintegration. He meditates anyway.

He concentrates on his respiratory system. Usually it's the digestive system he focuses on, but he's done enough breathing for his martial arts to know how it's supposed to work. Looking for anything that's not supposed to be there, he then burns it away. Fon loses track of time as he works, but he's pretty sure he's going to live. His nose is bleeding and he's exhausted, but he hasn't keeled over yet.

If there's any poison left in his system, he can't figure it out himself. There's only one way to check. Of all the people in the Triad, there is no one Fon hates more than the medic. That creep has a habit of looking too long and touching too much. He's the reason why Fon got so good at treating injuries. No way is he leaving Mei alone with that guy. But Fon can't do blood tests, so he has no choice.

The creep (Fon refuses to remember his name) makes him take his shirt off for no reason, but he doesn't touch. Fon broke his fingers last time Creep tried. The blood tests are done quickly. It turns out, he did manage to burn all the poison out of his bloodstream. But the results turned up something that makes him panic again. A new record really: twice in one day, when he hasn't done this at all since _before._ It's also the third time he's completely Disintegrated someone who set him off. Everyone in the Triad dismisses it as the Creep trying to touch him. This allows Fon to hide the diagnosis that panicked him.

Leukemia.

It killed him once. Slowly and painfully and bringing so much suffering to those he cared for. Treatment after treatment, each worse than the last till he hated them more than he hated the illness. He can't do that again. Not to himself or to his sister. It terrifies him more than the knowledge of what is to come. But he refuses to die. Not this time. This time, Fon is going to win.

The solution comes to him so easily he wants to cry. It's essentially a targeted therapy using Storm Flames. _Before_ , the first thing they tried had been targeted therapy. Targeted therapy uses substances that hurt only cancer cells. It didn't work then. Then they had tried chemotherapy after that. It had made him so sick he had begged them to stop. Losing his hair had hurt. He wasn't vain, but it felt like even the most basic parts of himself were being taken away.

 _Now,_ he keeps his hair long. He's aware it makes him androgynous and that the Triad jokes about his sexuality. It's also a target in fights; people always try to get him by the hair. He doesn't care about any of that. It's something that's his. Like the tattoo, his hair is for no one but himself. If his plan works, Fon will keep his hair this time.

He goes back to his physical meditations. Fon also studies about the way the bones produce blood cells and what leukemia does. He studies with the fervor and obsession usually reserved for his marital arts. Concentrating on how his body should be working, he looks for what's wrong. It takes weeks of intense meditation, but he learns to feel it: the cancer in his bone marrow. To his minds' eye, it seems like a dark mass – a wrongness – in his bones where the cell production occurs. Fon can almost feel the excess white blood cells entering his system.

Using his Storm Flames to burn out that inhaled poison was the most precise work he's ever done. This is going to be a thousand times more difficult. It's more than the guided precision of Poison Disintegration; it's forcing his Flames to work against basic instinct. Flames naturally work to protect the user, and they only backlash when misused or used excessively. Cancer cells aren't an intruding outside force the same way poisons are. They are abnormal and damaging growths, but they are still his cells.

For all the delicacy of the human body, it's actually rather difficult for humans to hurt themselves. It takes the same force to break fingers as it takes to break a baby carrot. But basic instinct and pain responses prevent it. Martial artists train themselves to overcome those limits. They learn to hit hard enough to hurt themselves in order to do things like break boards and cinderblocks. Fon has long taken that to the extreme (he's long taken all his training beyond normal limits). Applying this aspect of his martial arts training to his Flames is new. But it's necessary.

The weeks – then months – that he works on this alarm Mei and Sifu. They think his food issues are back, so they hover over him. Eating is difficult; he feels the lack of appetite that is a symptom of leukemia. Forcing himself to eat is hard, but he does it to keep them from worrying. It does help a little in fighting off the fatigue.

Two months of experimentation eventually pay off and he adjusts Poison Disintegration to target the leukemia. Meditation reveals that the cancerous cells are being reduced. It takes a period of about three weeks to Disintegrate them to the point he feels better. The dizziness and fatigue goes away, the headaches stopped, he can eat again, and the only bruises he has are from training and fights. Mei and Sifu seem relieved.

Just in time, too. Something seems to be up with the Triad. In the last two weeks, he has been completely pulled from missions. The teachers have also stepped up his training. His martial arts styles are more fluid than they've ever been before. Also, they've taken to drilling him on the 'romance languages': English, Italian, French and Spanish. While _before_ gives him an advantage, this is a large change from the more local/practical languages he'd been taught since he was born _here_ : Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Korean. Whatever it is that's going on, it has to do with martial arts and it's probably happening in Europe. Fon is officially curious.


	9. Chapter 8

Apparently, there's going to be a martial arts tournament in Mafia Land next month. There are going to be two parts: pure martial arts and flame augmented martial arts. Each organization is permitted a combatant for each part. Since there are no rules against it, Fon will be participating in both.

Fon has no desire to represent the Triad. He's never been competitive, not even _before_. People make the mistake of thinking he is, but that is a misconception. What Fon likes is perfecting his techniques. There is no better way to do that than to prove his styles against as wide a variety of opponents as he can get. So, Fon is almost excited to participate, and he's aiming to win for multiple reasons.

Winning will keep the Wo Hop To off his and Mei's backs for a while. It will also earn him some freedom. A good showing in the tournament will improve the Wo Hop To's international reputation. Considering everyone will see that, the Triad will start sending him abroad to work. Also, winning is like proving he has reached as close to perfection as humanly possible. Not that it will stop him from improving further, but Fon likes having goals. Winning the tournament has given him a nice short-term goal.

 _Before_ , Fon had a high school business class that was pointless except for the boost to his GPA. The only thing he really remembers about it is the unit on planning. First step was to set a long-term goal for the future. Next was to create a series of short-term goals that would help accomplish the long-term one. It seemed like common sense, but it was a nice concise way for Fon to organize his thoughts. Fon's long-term goal is to keep his people safe. A step on the way to accomplishing that is to become as strong as he can.

The tricky thing about making plans is that he isn't working off complete information. Fon doesn't remember everything from _before._ Most of his memories are of his own life, and manga plots just don't have the same level of emotional value. _Katekyo Hitman Reborn_ was special to him though; his sister read it to him in the hospital. Of all the manga plots in his head, KHR is the most recent and the most clear. The problem is it's still a messy blur. He spent twelve years _here_ without realizing he was in KHR. By the time he realized a manga plot was important, what few details had survived his illness had long since faded.

Fon's biggest problem is that _Fon_ was a background character. He knows that _Fon_ of KHR was labeled the World's Greatest Martial Artist and _he_ was the World's Strongest Storm. At some point, _he_ was approached by Checkerface (aka some guy hiding out in Namimori, Japan). Then _he_ worked with the rest of the World's Strongest Flames (called the Arcobaleno, which means rainbow or something) for a while. They get Cursed, and spend approximately thirty years as toddlers. He knows _Fon_ is somehow related to Hibari Kyouya. In the alternate future, _Fon_ was killed but the Vongola Tenth Gen kids fixed it (somehow?). There was little other info about _Fon_ in the manga.

His sister was the one who loved complex plotlines. Fon loved character backstories and interactions. So, even though none of the others (the Arcobaleno, the Vongola, and the Varia) seem 'real' yet, Fon knows them. He cares for them. It's not just Mei's happiness he needs to protect. But until Vongola Tenth (poor little Sawada Tsunayoshi) breaks the Curse, the Arcobaleno are still needed. For now, the survival of the world depends on the Arcobaleno system.

As much as Fon wants to warn the others, the Arcobaleno need to exist. Fon is okay with spending a few decades as a toddler. It's going to be frustrating, but being a toddler _here_ had been fairly entertaining. The Triad couldn't figure out if he was an idiot or a genius. This time, he'll have even more opportunities to confuse those around him.

Considering the limitations of Fon's knowledge base and his area of influence, Fon's plan isn't complicated. Sure he wants to keep Mei and everyone else safe and happy, but 'how' is the question. He isn't a main character; his only influence is in how others react to him. He's certain Hibari Kyouya isn't his child. He's going to be an Arcobaleno during that time. Meaning Mei will eventually meet a man named Hibari and love him enough to give her child his name. Hibari Kyouya being Japanese means Mei leaves the Triad at some point. One of Fon's goals is to ensure she has the freedom to do so.

His current goal is to attract Checkerface's attention. To become the Storm Arcobaleno, Checkerface needs to recognize him as the World's Strongest Storm and the World's Greatest Martial Artist. The tournament is the perfect opportunity; perfecting his styles is a bonus. It's one thing to have something of a reputation amongst the Triads; it's another thing entirely to win an international [criminal] tournament.

A tournament that is occurring on the moving island of Mafia Land. To prevent law enforcement from catching on, Mafia Land sticks to international waters and can only be reached by a system of ferries or flights from a rotating series of port cities. For the tournament, Mafia Land is floating nearest Spain. To get there, Fon and the rest of the Wo Hop To are going to fly. On a plane. Thousands of feet in the air.

Fon isn't afraid of heights. Even though he's never flown before (or _before_ ) he knows that airplanes are one of the safest ways to travel. But he is going to be stuck in a confined space with his Triad for hours with no escape. If he loses it, the plane could go down. Not to mention the stress of travel and changing time zones and interacting with strangers.

There are two choices here: bottle it all up until he Disintegrates everything in his path, or utilize creative methods to release the stress. Well, Fon has been making a conscious effort to enjoy the moment.


	10. Interlude: Tournament

Renato Sinclair didn't usually spend his downtime in Mafia Land. He was there so often for work that the island had little appeal for recreation. Not that he couldn't find a way to amuse himself, given how easy it is to spread Chaos. Today, Chaos is a side effect of his presence and not his main goal. Mafia Land only had large, multi-organizational events every couple of years. Tensions were always high and things had a tendency to explode when criminal organizations clashed. A multi-organizational martial arts tournament isn't just entertainment; it's a chance to scope out the competition. To win the (rather substantial) monetary prize is one thing, but bragging rights and customer contracts are a prize on their own. Organizations will show off a lot more to win that.

Renato also knows better than anyone that events like these are a great opportunity to assassinate someone. He is the best, after all. Crowds of strangers in an unfamiliar location with all their attention on something else make a lovely opportunity. Due to the many enemies Renato has made, he takes precautions. Disguises have always been fun and it is easy enough to make sure no one notices him slip in. He doesn't show up for the opening matches out of disinterest and to limit his time in the crowd.

Noting two groups of Mafioso with conflicting tattoos, he trips one of them into the other group. As the fight starts behind him, he settles into a seat. The tournament is still in the pure martial arts phase. The current competitors are very good but not especially notable. What catches his attention is the bench of competitors waiting for their turn. More specifically, there is one young man waiting to compete. Judging by the tattoos on the Triad guard-type standing behind the boy, they're Wo Hop To.

Unlike every other competitor, this young man isn't watching the match; he's watching the crowd. Actually, he's watching the fight Renato started. It seems to amuse him. Then he actually _finds Renato in the crowd_ and smiles at him. Smiles at him as if the boy knows he started the fight, as if he knows Renato is not who he seems to be. As if he is entertained by the Chaos, just as Renato is.

Suddenly, this whole event just got a whole lot more interesting.

Then the boy's match starts and Renato is proven right (as always). He's up against some Italian Mafioso twice his size, who has the build and scars of a lifelong bruiser. It's oddly like David and Goliath: the Italian looks like he could physically overpower his counterpart with ease. But this isn't a match of strength. The young Wo Hop To representative moves with the grace of someone who learned martial arts before they learned to speak.

The Italian keeps coming after the boy, only for the boy to dodge. Over and over the man tries and fails. Renato is close enough to see their faces. The Italian is getting angry, and the boy is smiling and talking. Renato can lip-read well enough to make out some of the words. It helps that the boy is speaking Italian. Something along the lines of "please stop embarrassing yourself" and "it's not too late to quit." He seems completely sincere, which only makes it worse for the Italian.

Renato takes great joy in driving people into a rage, but there is something to be said for watching someone else work. The bruiser is shouting incoherently and swinging wildly. It's about as effective as trying to catch the wind. If Renato was not the Best, he would not have been able to spot how it ended. To the audience, it looked like the Italian tripped into the stadium wall and knocked himself out. But Renato saw the perfectly executed kick to the Italian's ankle. It was the first and only offensive strike the boy performed throughout the entire match.

No one knows where they are or even if they are actually present. It is the best method to obtain information. And Viper is the Best in the information business. In any other industry, a martial arts tournament wouldn't be particularly important. But the criminal underworld guards their secrets jealously and an assessment of those abilities is worth a lot. Viper knows all the 'publically' available information relating to the competitors. Viper also knows the particulars of the organizational structure. But what people want – what people will pay for – is the fighting capabilities of the organizations.

They could observe the training regimens of each organization or steal the information from the minds of the organizations' respective heads. Mist Flames are versatile and Viper is the Best. The tournament provides a brilliant opportunity to do both. Viper can get the necessary information on the organizations' capabilities from the participants and those in the audience. It saves a lot of trouble travelling around. Also, Viper is getting paid for attending.

Criminal organizations naturally distrust one another. None of them were willing to participate without assurances that the others couldn't cheat. At first it was suggested that each organization bring a Mist Flame user to check for cheating, but no one would trust the other organizations' Mists. Mafia Land administration suggested using an unbiased third-party. Since Viper is both unaffiliated and the most powerful Mist anyone has ever encountered, they got the job.

They get paid to ensure that no Flames are used during the pure martial arts portion and that the Flames are contained within the ring during the combined portion.

It was simple enough so far. A mild manipulation of reality made it impossible for anyone within the ring to utilize their Flames (except Viper). A few of the participants had reacted to the Mist Flames, but they had all been easily contained. The few Mists that had tried to interfere had been easily dealt with. One participant was interesting. The first time the boy [Name: Fon, age: 17, Status: Flame-active, type: Storm, affiliation: Wo Hop To Triad] had entered the ring, he reacted instinctively to the Mist Flames. Storm Flames attempted to lash out at what was perceived to be an attack. Viper had been ready to contain it when suddenly the Storm Flames were restrained and tucked away. Then they felt the Flame equivalent of a skittish cat brushing against them in apology, only to immediately slip out of reach.

That level of Flame Control is rare. The boy is much more skilled than they had been led to believe. Which was proven as Fon effortlessly won bout after bout. It led him to the finals of the pure martial arts division.

The other semi-finalist was Yasha; a wrestler from Russia who liked to anger his opponents, then overpower them when they got too close in their rage. It was an interesting matchup. Yasha had managed to elicit responses from every opponent so far. So far, Fon hadn't shown anything other than amused tolerance. Stylistically, they were opposites. Yasha grabs onto his opponents and restrains them, breaking limbs if he has to. Fon stays out of reach until the optimal time to strike, never coming into contact with his opponent more than necessary to do damage.

At first, they test the water. Yasha tries to grab Fon; Fon slips out reach. Fon goes in to strike; Yasha attempts to grab the offending limb. Viper can appreciate the dance, though they find it rather dull. It becomes more interesting when Yasha starts talking. The insults are typical at first: Fon's androgynous appearance, sexuality, and the uses of his flexibility. Nothing phases Fon. Viper is reluctantly impressed; they have left people brain-dead for less. Yasha must realize that tactic isn't going to work, because he switches gears.

He starts commenting on Fon's fellow Triad members, insulting his leader and coworkers. Fon doesn't even alter his speed, still testing Yasha's ability to react to different strikes. Then Yasha comments on the young girl with the Wo Hop To members in the stands. Viper knows this is Fon's sister, Mei [age 14 and reputed to be an accomplished Triad assassin in her own right], but even without their advantages it is obvious the two are related. The Russian actually gets a reaction. Fon stops smiling, his face so blank it could have been carved from stone. Viper can't resist reaching out to touch his mind, and they are surprised by the rage and hate barely leashed there. The boy's grasp on his Flames is tight, which is good; Viper is certain it would be embarrassingly difficult to contain his Storm Flames at this moment.

Viper can _see_ the boy stop consciously thinking about his next move. It is the point Yasha pushed all his opponents to: till they operated off instinct instead of strategy. This time, it wasn't working in Yasha's favor. Fon almost became the Storm under his skin, attacking with such fury and unpredictability that he was a whirling blur of red. Yasha managed to grab Fon's wrists and lift him, but found his opponent simply didn't care. Fon let Yasha hold on and used the grip as to lift himself up. Fon wrapped his legs around the Russian's throat and broke his opponent's neck. Viper didn't know humans could bend that way without Flames to assist them, but Fon did so.

The audience was enraptured, Viper heard them talking about Fon. They called him things like the World's Greatest Martial Artist and the Wind Itself.

And Viper made a lot of money off bets on that fight.

Luce Giglio Nero was always going to attend the tournament. It is a societal obligation the Head of a Famiglia can't avoid. Above the obligations, Luce _knows_ this is an opportunity for her. The visions of the Giglio Nero have set her on a path generations in the making. All she has to do is play her part. While Luce is aware of what it will eventually cost her, she is looking forward to meeting the rest of the Arcobaleno in person. She won't see all of them.

Skull won't know about any of it until Checkerface brings them together. Lal and Colonello aren't entrenched in the mafia yet. Verde has no interest in martial arts or the social aspects of a tournament. Reborn is a master of disguise and Viper will be wrapped in their Mist Flames; so the only one of her future fellow-sacrifices that she'll get to see is Fon.

Fon's not just participating, he's going to win. He's already won the pure martial arts half. This tournament will solidify his reputation as not just the World's Best Martial Artist, but also the World's Strongest Storm. And knowing how yesterday's competition would end, had not made the young Storm's performance any less beautiful. Just like knowing Fon will win doesn't make watching him use his Flames any less breathtaking.

It's the Final of the Flame Inclusive portion, but Luce is more tired than she had anticipated. It's hard to restrain her Sky from reaching out to the Flames that she _knows_ , but hasn't actually met. To wrap her Flames around theirs like her spirit crave would be an unforgivable breach of Sky etiquette. A strong Sky reaching out to the Flames of strangers not affiliated with her famiglia would be seen as poaching, at best. So she reigns in her Flames and doesn't reach for the intangible Mist circling the stadium, or the blazing Sun hidden in the stands, or the restrained Storm preparing for his next bout. The Sky comforts herself with the knowledge that she'll meet them soon.

But as for the more immediate future, Fon is facing his final opponent. It's another Storm, this one an American woman. The majority of participants in the Flame Integrated Martial Arts Competition had been Suns and Lightnings, with the next largest amount being Storms. Those three Flame types are more commonly hand-to-hand combatants than the other types. A Lightning's Hardening often makes for a good tank, taking hits but no damage. A Sun's Activation can keep them going longer, and quickly makes any damage irrelevant. A Storm's Disintegration is a destructive power that lends itself well to many aspects of combat, and can even Disintegrate others' Flames depending on whose Will is greater.

The American Storm is also a martial artist, but seems less talented than Fon (though Luce will admit to herself that she isn't an expert and is more than a little biased).What she lacks in martial arts technique, she has well-compensated with Flames. The American has so-far demonstrated the typical personality traits of a Classic Storm: high-strung and obsessive with a tendency to attack first.

To the audience, Fon seems to be an Inverted Storm: calm and easy-going, with emotional outbursts being a rare occurrence. In the entire tournament Fon had only lost his temper once – against that Russian in the Pure Martial Arts Final. Though his face had been so blank, any who didn't know him would think he'd simply decided to get serious about the fight. Luce is well-aware Fon is much more of a Classic Storm than he seems, but her visions have given her an advantage in that area.

Luce knows Fon is a Classic Storm who has forced himself into the role of an Inverted Storm. Someday Fon won't be able to contain himself and his Triad will learn what exactly they have been trying to control. Not today though. Today, the audience is looking forward to the fight between the American Classical who attacks with Flames first and the Chinese Inverted who hardly needed them.

And what a fight it is. It seems to be as much a match of endurance as a match of skill. The American (the announcer said her name was Janine) was aggressive and precise. It had been a long day and she had used a lot of Flames in her previous bouts. Fon stayed back and moved only as much as needed to dodge. Fon had been much more conservative with his Flame use, but he had fought all yesterday as well.

Luce knows Fon, though – has seen him in her visions of their future. To her, Fon looks more bored than tired. Yesterday had been fun, until whatever the Russian said to him. Today he had become progressively less amused as the tournament wore on. At the same time, Janine was getting progressively more frustrated.

Viper had offered to use Mist Flames to project sound and visuals of the action into the VIP box. For an exorbitant fee of course. Luce had been happy to pay and it's not like the Giglio Nero can't afford it.

So she can see and hear perfectly when Janine loses it. She stops throwing controlled Flames long enough to throw punches and words. It's a profanity filled rant on people who won't take her seriously because she's a girl. Luce is familiar with the feeling, but has never had the liberty of indulging in such a public display of outrage. Fon's apology is both sincere and unsurprising. He apologizes for giving her such an impression, and states that he usually refrains from using his Flames because of the possibility of collateral damage.

Fon says he has one technique that has never seen combat; and that it would be an honor to use it here.

Luce watches Fon releases a burst of Storm that she can feel all the way up in the top box of the stands, condensed into a shape she has only seen in visions. The Storm Flame dragon of Fon's Exploding Lotus Kempo is beautiful.

Janine surrenders on the spot.


	11. Chapter 9

It took Fon a while to figure out why everyone is so loyal to the Wo Hop To. He had assumed it was the brainwashing. From his limited knowledge of these things, the Triad operates like a cult. Discontented and destitute people come for money or support or because they can't go to the police. It starts off small, with shows of faith and trust. Bring this there and don't look inside the bag. Go tell this person they owe money, and smash their window if they refuse. Come with me as I intimidate this person. Point a gun at someone for me. Pull the trigger.

Before people know it, they're in too deep to get out. If they even want to get out. The deeper in they get, the higher the rewards. More money, attractive people, drugs, and most addictive of all: power. Giving anyone power can go badly; giving people used to feeling powerless the ability to do whatever they want to those suddenly beneath them? Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was a favorite phrase of his _before_ sister.

Sifu is one of the few who had no other options and now regrets joining. He's never spoken of it, but Fon can tell. It's in his eyes, as he teaches teenagers the most effective ways to cause pain and death with their bare hands.

Fon and Mei had the misfortune of being born inside the 'cult.' They nearly grew up believing the Mountain Master is one step from divine, and that following him is only right. If Fon didn't have the _before,_ they would likely be as blindly loyal as the rest of their peers. They would know nothing else. But Fon remembers growing up in a family where arguments were won with sass and sarcasm. In a school where he learned about bias and perspective. In a country where the only thing everyone could agree on was the right to speak their mind. The Wo Hop To tried to create blind loyalty and all they got was the façade.

The Triad thinks they've broken him. He's played their game for so long; even he's started to believe it. Because, in a way, they do control him. As long as Mei is here, they have him. Eighteen years old; he's been killing for them for fourteen years, and has been their soldier for eight. Fon's the same age he was when he was diagnosed _before._ His life is just beginning at the same age it was ending. But he is still trapped by forces outside his control.

Mei isn't a child anymore. She could take care of herself well enough if they ran. Now, Fon is the problem. He's too valuable and well-known for the Wo Hop To to let him go. If Fon was to leave, they would stop at nothing to get him back. They wouldn't be able to bring him by force, so they would go after Mei. So Fon will stay and play the good soldier.

Since Fon is now considered an adult, the Triad has started to actually pay him for his 'services.' And it turns out to be a massive amount of money. [Should he ask for back pay? They won't take it well, but the lashing would be worth the looks on their faces.] He puts all half the money in a bank associated with Mafia Land. Only he and Mei can touch it. He gives the rest directly to Mei. Smiles at her and calls it her 'escape fund,' like it's a joke.

Others things changed once Fon officially reached adulthood, though he is embarrassed to admit it took a while to notice. He rarely interacted with people not Mei or Sifu, and when he did it was usually in spars. Suddenly, girls his age were coming up to him in the dojo or the kitchen and talking to him. It freaks him out. The only times members of the Triad talk to him are to tell him what to do or assist him with a task. It's been so long since he's socially interacted with new people (bantering in a fight doesn't count). When they start touching him, he really freaks out.

At first it's just standing a bit too close and brushing against him as they walk past. Then they reach for his arm and try to hold on to him. Tracing hands down his arms or brushing against his chest. A few of the braver ones try to play with his hair. It's the same way his mother behaves around his father(? Sperm donor? Fon isn't quite sure what to call the Deputy Mountain Master). By the time he realizes they are trying to seduce him, Fon is so paranoid about an assassination attempt, that he's started taking back to back missions. Honestly, Fon would have preferred dodging people trying to kill him. With the creepy medic, he broke fingers until the pervert got the point. These girls are under orders though. Anyone that could tie Fon to their family would have a powerful Flame user at their beck and call and any potential children would likely have some fraction of his potential.

It wouldn't be fair to the poor girls being used as bartering chips to harm them for following orders. There is no good way to get them to stop, so Fon does what he always does. He ignores it and pretends he doesn't understand what they're trying to get him to do. Mei and Sifu help by giving him excuses to get away when he's not on missions. Dodging their hands and attempts to get him alone, have the benefit of increasing his stealth and subtlety. But even with all the crazy, horrible situations he's been in _here,_ this is still the most uncomfortable.

The avoidance strategy seems to be working though. He's overheard several conspirators wondering if he's a late bloomer or just not interested in girls. A fourteen year old shouldn't look as grown up as Mei does when she sits him down and asks if they can have a talk. The conversation that follows just reminds Fon about how much he loves his sister.

They go on a mission to get out of the Triad for the conversation. Then, she tells him that she loves him no matter what. She tells him she will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. Then, blunt, straightforward person that she is, she asks two questions.

Are you at all interested in girls?

Do you want to leave?

It takes him a while to answer. He tries not to think too much about the things that upset him. Eventually, Fon explains that he's never put much thought into dating or sex. He's always had higher priorities (even _before_ ). Maybe someday he'd like someone to come home to, but not someone he'd have to worry about. Not another person he'd have to worry about keeping safe. (He doesn't say that part out loud, but Mei hears it anyway.)

As for leaving the Triad, he tells her he doesn't see how it would be an option. So long as people he cares about are within the Wo Hop To, they hold his leash.

Mei tells him that she could run with him. That she's not a child anymore. It doesn't matter, he says. He explains to her that it isn't so bad. That he can tolerate anything they do to him so long as she's safe. (They both know the Wo Hop To would do anything to keep him, including hurt Mei.)

Mei promises that she will become powerful enough he won't have to worry anymore.

Fon says that he's always going to worry about her and that he'd rather have her free than be free himself.


	12. Chapter 10

Between dodging flirty women, running missions with Mei, and mastering more styles of martial arts; time seems to fly by. Fon has come to the realization that all birthdays feel the same; eighteen was only special because they started paying him. Now twenty, he expects to feel some sort of difference. After all, he's not a teenager anymore. The only difference is realizing that Mei will soon be sixteen.

She's growing up fast and terrorizing the Triad in new, un-provable ways. Soon, no one is going to be able to hold her leash. He honestly can't wait. In the meantime, Fon enjoys watching the Triad dance around trying to get her to be a 'proper young lady.' Every time they suggest she 'stay home and start looking for a nice man' she would smile and take another mission. Mei's smiles tend to scare people just as much as her capabilities on missions.

Because Mei doesn't smile, (not at anyone but Fon and Sifu) she bares her teeth. Mei is pretty as a porcelain doll and just as unreadable. A smile should make her lovely and approachable, but instead people are unsettled and they don't know why. The long buried, instinctual part of the human brain recognizes the predator in front of them. Knows that those teeth could tear through their flesh. But humans don't listen to instinct anymore. Their eyes see a pretty young lady and they don't understand why they have the urge to run.

If Mei ever became Flame-Active, Fon is fairly certain she would be either a Mist or a Cloud. Maybe a combination of the two.

The standard theory is that for every Flame-type, there is a personality type considered 'typical' that fits the majority of that type, and an opposing personality type that was less typical but seemed to fit the rest of that type. If the Classic personality type was calm and collected, the atypical (or Inverted) would be high-strung and neurotic. These would be almost exaggerated in Active Flame users, but still noticeable in Latent Flame users.

Skies and Rains are Classically the calm peacemakers; with Storms, Clouds, Mists, Lightnings, and Suns Classically hitting a range of high-strung neuroses. The problem with standard theory is that it is most prevalent in Europe, where there is a high concentration of Active Flame users. Europe also tends to have specific social standards and roles for Flame users that they are socialized to meet from an early age.

This skews the demographics. And Fon thinks it's more a case of nature versus nurture. By nature, he would consider himself a Classic Storm (obsessive, perfectionist, high-strung when pressured) but anyone other than Mei or Sifu would say he was an Inverted Storm: passive, compliant, and socially adept. Fon knows that he is the way he is because acting the way that feels most natural is likely to get him or Mei punished. It's an extreme reason for being different, but it proves that Flame users are capable of breaking from their stereotype.

Flame theorists also believe that when Flame users Activate, it increases the likelihood of those around them Activating. Fon totally believes this one. The moment Fon Activated, other Flame Users just started showing up in his life and crossing paths with him. Mei is Latent, and Fon didn't notice any sign of it until after he started learning to use his Flames. Her Flames are swirling just on the edge of perception: enough to tell they're there, but not enough to tell what they are. If Mei was ever faced with death, or a fate worse than death, she would Activate.

Fon believes that it may never actually come to that. When Mei was young and vulnerable, Fon protected her from those situations. Now, she is extremely capable and it is feasible Mei might never become desperate enough to Activate.

But if she ever did, Fon wants to be clear of the blast zone. Both Clouds and Mist have an extreme dislike for being bound by anyone or anything; their main difference is in their response. Clouds tend towards immediate and violent retaliation. Mists prefer to mentally torture those that have harmed them, and sometimes driving them to insanity over many years of patient work.

On missions, Mei is a force of nature. She is in the Wo Hop To's top five in martial arts (probably in the world's top ten), though she prefers the beautifully elegant brutality of her weaponized fans. Against the majority of opponents, Mei wouldn't break a sweat. But in relation to the Triad, violence would only cause further problems for her, and so Mei tends to use psychological warfare. It has actually become her favorite 'long-term' strategy.

It's more proof for Fon's nature versus nurture argument. They've actually discussed this before. Mei is amused by the idea, but has no desire to make herself more valuable to the Triad. Fon is relieved, but they have an unspoken agreement not to bring it up again.

Usually, they don't talk about meaningful things. The Triad is always watching and they don't want to get each other punished. But when Fon is experimenting with his Flames, no one will go near him.

That's when Mei ambushes him with questions about his lack of appetite.

Fon hadn't even noticed. He tells her as much and apologizes for worrying her. It's strange because he usually has food difficulties when he's stressed, and things have been about as relaxed as life in the Triads ever gets. Mei tells him that she'll be keeping an eye on him and – thankfully – drops the subject.

But the conversation leaves Fon with a sinking feeling. It pokes and prods at the gnawing tangle of anxiety and helplessness in his chest. He tries to ignore it, but it just grows and grows till he ends up causing an embarrassing amount of property damage when he's ambushed.

That's the last straw. Fon resigns himself to lost sleep and spends the night in deep meditation. He has to know.

Deep in his bone marrow, he can feel it. The leukemia is back. Or maybe Fon hadn't managed to get rid of it all last time.

It's entirely possible. Fon isn't a doctor or a scientist. He's not a Flame expert either. He's improvising (read: flailing) based on the teachings of people who want to control him and faulty memories of a story his sister read to him when he was dying. The fact that it worked so well the first time is somewhere between a testament to Fon's will to live and a miracle.

On the bright side (Fon figures faking positivity will eventually result in real positivity) Mei pointed it out early.

Spending a few days using Modified Poison Disintegration to destroy the leukemia cells a little at a time is no trouble. He found out from the first time that doing it for long stretches is exhausting; due to the concentration it takes not to harm himself.

Within a week, everything is back to 'normal.'

Except for the cold resignation that he's going to have to keep an eye out for returning symptoms. At least the three years between the initial treatment and returning symptoms imply Fon won't have to worry about this constantly.

Worry is just another emotion he buries deep. Channeling the tension and stress into experimenting with martial arts and Flames may not be emotionally healthy, but at least it's productive. More productive than missions anyway.

At this point, Fon is sent on two or three missions a week if they are local (within a day's travel) or he's contracted out. These contracts sometimes involve acting as a bodyguard (which is often boring and irritating, and sometimes uncomfortable) or being sent to kill someone across the country or the continent (or the world, on rarer occasions).

It's one of these rare assassinations that his life changes again. Fon is in America for the first time since _before_. New York City is nothing like the Midwestern suburbs he had _grown up_ in (it's not even the right decade), but Fon finds a melancholy sort of joy in being surrounded by Americans. Fon enjoys walking through Central Park for the first time ever, but it's reaching his motel room that evening that he encounters someone (something?) he didn't realize he was waiting for.

The man was waiting in his little motel room taking one of the two rickety chairs, with a pot of tea steaming on the equally rickety table in front of him. Fon sits across from the man and takes the cup offered him.

Something about the stranger reminds Fon of the Mountain Master and his immediate subordinates. It gives him the simultaneous and disorienting desires to kneel in obedience and break every bone in the man's body. Fon restrains himself to smiling amicably and sipping at the tea; using Poison Disintegration just in case.

The man tells him that he has something important that needs to be done. That it can only be accomplished by the World's Greatest Martial Artist and the World's Strongest Storm. The man – Kawahira, Fon realizes – tries to flatter him. It's a strategy that might work with the typical Inverted Storm; proud and eager to please as they are.

Fon amuses himself by turning the man down flat and catching the manipulative ass off-guard. It doesn't throw off the Man with the Iron Hat for long, but the momentary surprise is very gratifying. Kawahira has lived too long and conned too many people into becoming Arcobaleno to let an initial refusal stop him.

Fon allows the being passing as human to 'convince' him to take an 'impossible job.' He has to admit that Kawahira knows what he was doing. If Fon was the _Fon_ he remembered from the story, he would do the job anyway. A human trafficker who specialized in children was well-protected by his wealth and his status. No one in the country the bastard lives in will touch him. Kawahira wanted the target dead, his network decimated, his customer lists stolen, and the children freed. All without leaving evidence of who did it.

Fon was looking forward to it.


	13. Chapter 11

Intellectually, Fon knows that he is completely morally screwed up. But he also knows that it's entirely possible everything he's experienced in this life is a delusion occurring in a medically-induced coma. Down that road lies insanity though, and Fon's been there, done that, and gotten the t-shirt.

He doesn't like to think about the few months after he realized exactly _where_ he was. Most of his time was spent being taught about his Flames. (And then there was the whole accidently-nutritionally-starving-himself thing.) But any time not spent training he had been freaking out, so he had trained till he dropped. At least the effect on his abilities had been positive.

Either way, Fon has taken steps to keep himself as close to sane as he can. Balancing the Triad's demands since he was old enough to be useful has taught him to draw his line in the sand and break the bones of those who cross it. The process tends to have consequences, but no amount of lashings have been able to force Fon to do what they want. They've used Mei to force him to do things before, but Fon always makes sure to fulfill the exact letter of their demands while defying the spirit of it. Once Fon was ordered to make the innocent child of one of the Wo Hop To's enemy disappear, and he used the Triad's own resources to set the kid up with a new identity. Since he did what they told him, the Mountain Master wouldn't punish Mei, viewing the situation as the fault of those who assigned the mission. The whipping Fon received was completely worth it.

So Fon has learned to avoid certain orders.

(It's not just for his morals. Whenever Fon pulled something, he got to smile in the face of their fury and confusion.)

But when Kawahira pays the Triad a truly exorbitant amount of money for his services, Fon can't actually avoid it. Not that the alien has him go against his principles; the missions Kawahira uses him for are strictly 'good.' Fon is set on human traffickers and pedophiles and other filth that even the underbelly of society doesn't tolerate, like he's an attack dog.

Honestly, Fon had expected this sort of powerplay from the Man in the Iron Hat. The alien doesn't exactly take 'no' for an answer, and renting Fon from the Wo Hop To is a small price to pay to get the World's Strongest Storm exactly where he needs. For all that Fon understands the necessity, he hates feeling trapped and manipulated. He puts it away. This is necessary and he can't act out.

Either way, Kawahira hasn't given him a reason to _avoid orders_ (other than annoyance). Yet.

But Fon was almost… disappointed? Granted Fon hadn't expected to be able to match wits with a millennia-old, master-manipulator; but he'd at least looked forward to throwing a wrench in the smug asshole's plans.

It's as Fon is dodging bullets in a drug den that he has the realization. Kawahira had sent him off to steal a file, then rob their headquarters and wreck the place to cover the theft. Fon had been prepared for the mission with the usual file of information, but the alien had warned him to expect double the number of usual security. All the intelligence in the file indicated that the drug dealer's usual fifteen person team would be the only ones there.

But there are definitely thirty people shooting at him. Well, there were thirty people when they started shooting. Fon had thought about being stealthy for this one, but he's been feeling stressed lately and a frontal assault allowed for more of a fight. First thing he had done was release Exploding Lotus Kempo. There's nothing quite like the look on a person's face when a dragon made of Flames appears and comes at them. It's an unnecessary show of force, given he plans to stick to pure martial arts, so as to prolong the encounter.

Smiling to himself at the increasing panic of the security team, Fon dodges bullets and allows his attention to wander. The file had been very thorough. Fon suspects Kawahira already has Viper on his payroll: the Mist is the Greatest Information Broker, after all. But if even Viper didn't know security would double, how did Kawahira know? The answer hits him the way he hits his targets: suddenly and unavoidably. The Giglio-Nero. Of course Kawahira would take advantage of their foresight. Knowing what's going to happen is the most efficient way to keep everything to plan. Fon is using that same reasoning.

But the question becomes, can the Giglio-Nero see what is going happen with complete accuracy? Fon isn't sure. Yuni hadn't seemed to think there was any way out of her position as the Sky Arcobaleno, even with little Tsunayoshi breaking the Curse. But that whole situation had involved time travel and Byakuran, who knew different universes. This implies that the Giglio-Nero see the future based on everything up to the present moment. If people continue to act as they have in the past, they should act the same in the future.

This means that Fon, acting on what he knows of the future, can change things. Idly dodging a desperate attempt to grab his hair and breaking the offender's fingers, Fon debates on the merits of changing canon. There had been so much tragedy in canon, but also so little information on the thirty years the Arcobaleno spent Cursed. His first priority – as always – is Mei and her happiness. Which means ensuring she gets away from the Triad. In two years, when she turns eighteen, is as good a time as any. But Fon can't leave the Wo Hop To, himself. For one, they'll just send people after him and Mei. If he stays, at least he can prevent them from coming after Mei. And for another, Sifu hasn't been doing well and someone had to keep an eye his daughter's husband. Ping had been married off to one of the Mountain Master's nephews; and the guy wasn't the worst, but Fon has distinct memories of the jerk trying to kill him when the Storm was young. Fon knows the Triad has been pressuring the couple to have kids.

If Fon and Sifu actually discussed it, Sifu would tell him to forget everything and get the hell away from the Triads as fast as he could. But Sifu is the closest he has to a real parent (and Ping is practically a distant cousin, for all that he rarely interacts with her outside the kitchen). Fon's older _now_ than he was when he passed away _before_ , but it doesn't change how desperately happy he felt to have someone looking out for him the way his _parents_ did. Someone has to watch out for the man and his daughter. Fon thought about sending the woman away with Mei, but her family ability made her about as valuable to the Wo Hop To as Fon is. He's still not sure how the human-time-bomb thing works, but this place is so weird it's easier just to go with it. Also, Ping was a fairly average combatant (aside from her ability) and her safety would be an unfair burden on Mei.

Fon would be staying with the Triad for now, but changing the rest of canon remained an option. As he reaches the office, casually breaking the last of his opponent's gun-hand and ribs, the Storm decides that he really has to meet the Arcobaleno before he gets too far ahead of himself. From what he remembers of canon, Reborn is a cocky asshole who could use a few decades as an infant to deflate his ego, and the others weren't too far behind. After grabbing the file from the office and using a much larger Exploding Lotus Kempo to flatten the building, Fon leaves to continue his musings elsewhere.


	14. Chapter 12

Fon didn't know how the Arcobaleno were introduced to each other. Nothing from _before_ had ever let it slip. He'd always had this odd mental image of them all sitting down at a table with Checkerface at the head, introducing them. This mental image always ends in chaos in disaster, because Fon cannot imagine that many big personalities feeling each other out without conflict.

Of course it doesn't actually happen that way. Kawahira has done this who-knows-how-many times. The alien knows better.

They are introduced to each other in ones and twos, in a professional setting.

Fon meets Lal Mirch first. He plays distraction so she can infiltrate some sort of corrupt businessman's office. He finds the Rain very serious and professional. She reminds him of Mei in some ways. They chat a bit – nothing personal or incriminating – about how they wound up in this life. Fon tells her he was born into the Triads, but gives her no details about what it was like. In return, he learns she was forced out of COMSUBIN when her Flames manifested. Per Omerta as it applies to Flames, no Flame-active can hold a position of leadership in an official military. They part ways with what Fon is choosing to interpret as mutual respect.

Then he played bodyguard for Verde when the scientist was testing a prototype of some sort. Fon's not sure what to think of the Lightning. The man was abrasive, condescending, and downright rude about Fon's rather lacking education. After Fon saved him from some goons sent to kidnap him, the scientist hadn't been any less rude. But he'd been rude in a slightly nicer way, somehow? Asking if he could study Fon's Flames and techniques and the like. They actually wound up discussing tea. Verde likes green tea, though he prefers black. Fon tried not to find it entertaining and failed. Dealing with Verde is… interesting.

He meets Viper and Skull at the same time. Fon is tasked with destroying a particularly nasty gang leader's facility while Viper strips it of information. Skull acts as their getaway driver.

Viper is surprisingly straightforward. Give them money, they give you information. Sure they're literally cloaked in Mistery (Fon blames Skull for that pun), but they honestly don't care at all unless something will profit them. After the mission, Skull somehow convinced Fon and Viper to join him for dinner. Turns out, Viper will accept free meals and drinks as 'compensation for their time and presence.' Fon amuses himself by wondering if they're reading his mind.

Skull is unlike anyone Fon has ever met in this life. The Cloud is excitable and attention-seeking, proud and eager to please. Skull is a mess of contradictions covering up insecurity; and he painfully and joyfully reminds Fon of the little brother he left behind _before_. Fon can't help but smile and follow along to the stuntman's whims. They get to talking about various martial arts the stuntman has learned for roles. Fon offers to teach him a few more, 'assuming they work together again.'

The next Arcobaleno is Renato Sinclair – the man who will one day be known as Reborn. The World's Greatest Hitman lives up to his reputation, and the man knows it. The Sun is an egotistical asshole who delights in causing other people problems. Fon can't help but like the guy; he reminds the martial artist of Kakashi from Naruto. Since they are working together for the mission, Fon is mostly spared from being the target of the hitman's insanity. Future interaction is going to be entertaining.

For months, they work together in various combinations. They don't work together very well at first, but they're professionals and they at least pretend they're adults. Most all of them considers themselves the absolute best of their fields, and that form of attitude doesn't lend itself well to cooperation.

On the bright side, Fon gets to meet Colonello. Lal had brought her former COMSUBIN trainee in as an extra set of hands. The man who will eventually be their last-minute Rain-replacement is absolutely dedicated to his superior officer and an impressive sniper, but he really shines when it comes to traps. Fon likes him, even though the Rain is a bit intense. Though the (very few) people who know Fon well would probably say the same thing about him.

A bit after Fon turns twenty-one, they are all brought together at the same time. It's a rather nice dining room, with enough chairs for seven people. Checkerface stands in the entryway to greet them as they arrive, one by one. Eventually, six of them sit at a table, the alien remaining standing and informing them that he has gathered together the strongest Flame-users of each type. Renato is the one who (very condescendingly) points out the missing Sky. Kawahira (the dramatic asshole) had been waiting for that exact opportunity, and gestured to the door. He presents Luce, Donna of the Giglio-Nero famiglia, and leaves so that _I Prescelti Sette_ could get acquainted.

Luce brought a platter of cookies. Fon ignores his hang-ups about other people's cooking and takes one. His knowledge of who baked it doesn't prevent him from using Poison Disintegration, just in case. It's a good cookie, and Luce seems to be a good woman. Which is most definitely not possible, given she's the head of a mafia family. Luce is a master manipulator, and she knows exactly how to play each of them.

She admires Lal's accomplishments and dedication; bonding over being women in what is primarily the men's world. For Verde, she asks intelligent and complicated questions about his latest inventions. Viper, she bribes; blatantly, making no attempts to disguise it as anything else. Skull, she humors; letting him chatter about his stunts. Reborn, she flatters; complimenting his appearance and his skills. For Fon himself, she plies him with cookies, and talks about various types of tea.

Without her there, having them all in the same room without the structure of a mission would have been a disaster. Lal seems to be offended by the fact Skull is a civilian. Renato is offended by the implication that he would ever need to work with a group for more than one job. Verde considers them lower life-forms in general. Viper wouldn't even show up if they weren't paid for it. Skull is nervous and is trying to hide it by being obnoxious. And Fon is honestly too tired and too amused to be the peacemaker here. It would be exactly as much of a disaster as Fon had always imagined. Luce is a very powerful Sky, to induce such Harmony without even using her Flames on them.

Fon has to admit that he's glad Luce is ultimately on the side of good. Well, as good as the mafia can get.


	15. Chapter 13

The Arcobaleno's first mission together as a whole team was exactly as much of a disaster as Fon expected. Somehow, they succeeded anyway. It hadn't really been anyone's fault. Not that it stopped everyone from arguing about that.

It had been supposed to be a prettied-up smash-and-grab. One group very obviously smashing their way into the famiglia's compound, while the secondary group snuck in to steal whatever it was they were there for. Fon, Reborn and Lal had made up the distraction team while Verde and Viper went for the information. Skull drove the distraction team in, and drove them out again once Luce gave the signal that she had Viper and Verde with her.

Initially the plan had gone just fine.

Skull had stopped the car in the center of the courtyard. Renato and Lal moved behind the vehicle so they could use it as cover, but still have the freedom to move when necessary. Fon ditched the car immediately, so he could cover Renato and Lal's open backs. Their opponents had fired from out the windows and around the doorframes of the building.

Fon's job had been to prevent reinforcements from getting them from behind. The security building was to the side of the courtyard, attached to the fence. Fon couldn't have just gone in and cleared the place, because the grunts would have just fired out the windows at Lal and Renato. Instead, Fon had stood a dozen paces back from the entryway and sent up a thin wall of his Flames behind him. It was a modified form of Projectile Disintegration (the move he had based Poison Disintegration on) that would keep any bullets from getting his allies in the back. It would also take someone with massive Will to get through without being vaporized.

Usually, Projectile Disintegration is used by applying a thin coat of Flames over his body. It's not something he uses often. While it does prevent him from getting shot, it tends to Disintegrate his opponents and that's a bit too much like cheating for the martial artist. In close combat, it's really only practical (read: fair) against Flame-users with enough Will to be difficult opponents. It also eliminates air resistance, which honestly just reminds Fon that he's in a manga. He's already fast enough to dodge bullets, any faster and he can't consciously process his movements. At this point, Fon actually trusts his muscle memory more than conscious thought in combat scenarios; it's still disconcerting though.

But this version of Projectile Disintegration takes more concentration and effort. It didn't cause him Flame strain, but it was another thing to keep track of in the fight. And it wound up backfiring a little bit. Fon was in the middle of a small army. It wasn't a particularly difficult fight. They were mainly grunts and they hadn't resorted to shooting through each other yet.

A sudden scream had surprised him. There was a lot of screaming. Mostly in incoherent Italian, before it was cut off by Lal or Renato's shooting.

But this scream wasn't like the others. It wasn't pain or anger or shouted orders. It was agony and fear and horror so all-encompassing Fon had only heard it in his head before. It was the sound he wanted to make the first time Mei took an injury during a mission. (It had looked bad, head injuries always do, but she had recovered. And the person who hurt her had paid for it.)

Fon couldn't resist the urge to look. Someone had decided that they should try walking through Fon's barrier, since shooting through it clearly wasn't working. (Seriously, what kind of idiot tries to walk through a wall of fire?!) The grunt's arm was Disintegrating. For a moment all Fon sees is the face of the first person he ever did that to. The Storm is sharply brought back to reality by a punch to the face. It broke his nose, which was annoying. The grunts had taken advantage of his momentary distraction to swarm him.

They got a couple more hits in before Fon stopped holding back. In the briefing for the mission, they had decided that the distraction team would hold back to prolong their fight as much as possible.

Renato and Lal were essentially making a game out of it; performing trick shots and keeping score.

Personally, Fon thought he had the highest score because the other two were in a gun battle where everyone is firing from cover. Fon was in the middle of a small army – aka a target rich environment. These things are about perspective.

Skull was still in the car, ready to drive them away when Viper and Verde gave the signal. He had been freaked out and covering it with exaggerated bravado. Understandable yet also incredibly annoying. Renato had occasionally stopped bickering with Lal to taunt him, in an attempt to keep him distracted. It had worked well enough. Skull was very proud of his stunt driving, and his loud defense of their entry accounted for at least a third of the shouting.

The real problem had come when Fon heard shouting over the grunts' radios. Apparently someone in the famiglia had been more intelligent than anyone had anticipated. They had figured out they had been robbed, and had called for reinforcements. Thankfully, Verde and Viper had not been discovered.

Renato and Lal had quickly switched into 'professional murderers' mode, and Fon had started maneuvering back toward the car. Mostly by using his opponents as stepstools and launch pads. And because the Projectile Disintegration Wall was made of his own Flames, it didn't harm him. As Fon had discovered in his training, it takes a lot of concentration or being on the verge of Flame-exhaustion for someone's Flames to harm them.

It had been harder to keep the Wall up the farther he got from it, but Fon was the World's Strongest Storm. That had been only a small fraction of his power. Fon had gone past the car and scaled the outside of the main building, and entered a window. He had taken to snapping the necks or limbs of everyone in the room, then moving to the next window. Keeping Renato and Lal from hitting him had been a simple matter of keeping a bright ball of Flame burning so they could tell where he was.

Eventually, Skull had shouted that Luce had radioed him the signal. Fon had dragged the nearest goon to the window and used the man to cushion his landing. A quick sprint to the car later and Skull had driven them backwards out the wrecked fence.

The whole mess had left them where they are now: tearing down a back road in a reinforced car, with Skull freaking out in the driver's seat and Renato and Lal laying out covering fire from the back. Fon is sitting shotgun, leaning with a forearm braced against his knees to keep the strain off his ribs. Head tilted forward, he uses his free hand to pinch his nose, in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Fon had taken a free moment to fix it during the fight but it was _still_ bleeding. It wouldn't take long for Fon to have a spectacular set of black eyes. Not to mention, his forearms and legs are going to be as black and blue as his face soon.

All in all, pretty much situation normal. Sure Fon is the best, but that doesn't exempt him from injury. At least he's not shot. That would have been embarrassing. Fon hasn't been shot since just after his Flames activated.

Head trauma and gunshots really don't mix well, and Fon's head is starting to throb. Deciding to take the proactive approach, he rolls down the window and sticks his head out. It's a really awkward position for an Exploding Lotus Kempo, but watching two of their pursuers get eaten by his Storm dragon makes it worth it. The way the others cars slammed on the brakes and turned around was also very gratifying. Flames are really about Will anyway. If he wants it enough, then it happens.

When he resettles into the seat, Fon politely asks everyone to be quiet. He must look pretty pitiful because Skull stops shrieking, and Lal and Renato stop shooting. Fon meditates in the front seat until the reach the rendezvous point. Skull must think he's asleep, because Fon almost breaks the stuntman's wrist when he tries to shake the martial artist awake.

They get out of the cars Skull had stolen for the mission, and then Fon torches them. They switch back to Luce's vehicles and go back to the property the Sky is letting them use as their safe house.

It's a nice place; different from the Mountain Master's palace, obviously. But similar enough in the pretentious wealth that it makes Fon uncomfortable. Fon always feels awkward in these places; more comfortable in servants' quarters than guests'. Thankfully, the property isn't occupied by any staff; instead left for the "Strongest Seven" to use in relative privacy (when Luce is there, members of her famiglia are always a step behind). Fon suspects Luce is already in the early stages of pregnancy, but doesn't want to ask.

The first thing Fon does is clean himself up in the bathroom of the suite he is staying in. He tries not to get blood on anything. Then he goes to the kitchen – immediately feeling more comfortable in a place that is traditionally avoided by those 'higher' than himself – and makes himself some tea while icing his face. It's a routine he's performed often enough that the only hesitations come from being in an unfamiliar kitchen.

As the teapot is whistling, Renato wanders in. Knowing he'll turn it down, Fon offers the hitman tea. He's proven right, and Renato starts fiddling with the excessively expensive coffeemaker. When Renato asks how he's doing, Fon is so shocked he nearly reacts. Instead, he smiles and remarks that such injuries are common for martial artists and he has enough medical training to deal with them. The next time Renato surprises him, Fon's calm façade actually does crack a little. Fon hadn't even known the Sun knew how to heal with his Flames, let alone that he would offer such a thing.

The Storm thinks about it as he sips his tea. He's never come into contact with someone's Flames outside of training or combat; and he's not sure how he feels about the idea.

On the other hand, Renato is such a perfectionist that he'd take it as a personal insult if Fon experienced any adverse effects.

Fon agrees. Sun Flames create an interesting sensation. It's somewhere between an itch and an ache at first, but it's increasingly soothing as the pain fades.

Fon thanks Renato, and they sit quietly across from each other for a time.


	16. Interlude: Renato

When the Man in the Iron Hat recruited him, Renato had been more exasperated than anything else. He didn't need some creepily knowledgeable guy to tell him he was the Greatest Hitman in the World. And he certainly didn't need _other people_ hanging around. His opinion on the necessity of their presence never changed, but over time Renato did start to appreciate that they made it easier than doing everything himself would have been. The others of the supposed 'Strongest Seven' are good at their jobs – even the civilian driver. Lal Mirch is a professional through and through; Renato has no complaints beyond the implication that he would ever need help (also her little stalker/minion is a bit annoying). Verde is an asshole and a know-it-all, but his inventions are useful and impressive. Viper is a greedy jerk, but actually does know everything. Skull is a whiny civilian, but the best driver Renato has ever worked with (not that he is ever going to tell the stuntman). Luce is sweet, brave, and undeniably beautiful; honestly she scares him, there's no way the Donna of the Giglio-Nero is actually that innocent.

Fon interests him though. Renato had expected someone competitive and high-strung; but the martial artist seemed to have the characteristics of the much rarer Inverted Storm. But only at first. The man hid it well, but the longer Renato worked with him, the more obvious his obsessive perfectionism and single-minded dedication became. The Storm covered it with a carefully easygoing and slightly absentminded veneer. Fon's skills are highly impressive as well. But Renato has dealt with countless skilled individuals with unexpected personalities. The thing that fascinates him is the way Fon uses his Flames.

Renato has made his career using Flames people think of as passive and defensive in a manner that is actively offensive. Sun Flame users are thought of as healers, and when they're combatants, they use their Flames internally to enhance their bodies. Instead of Activating his own strength or a body's healing, Renato Activates his victims' heart rates and his own guns – sending bullets flying faster than physically possible and leaving people bleeding out at impossible speeds.

Storms are traditionally offensive combatants, generally long-range and known for leaving dust in their wake. It wasn't too unusual for them to be in close combat, but Fon's method was different from any Storm Renato has ever seen. The martial artist is precise, never using more force than absolutely necessary. And keeping his Flames so tightly restrained, Renato hardly knew they were there. Renato has also never before seen Storm Flames used for internal enhancement.

Maybe that's why Renato offered to heal him that first time. Not healing people is an important part of the hitman's reputation. No one should ever look to him for comfort; the Inverted Sun is supposed to be a source of unavoidable fear – a force of nature. Never one of his Typical nurturing counterparts. But this man he finds himself working with is like him. So much so, in some ways, that Renato just knows that Fon will never take his help for granted or expect it as his due. When Renato lets his Sun flow over the young man, Activating the natural healing process, it is because he wants to and no other reason. Fon thanks him; making no mention of the way the Sun and Rain had been shielded by his Storm. As if the martial artist didn't even realize that he had held a small army off their backs.

Maybe that's why Renato keeps offering.

Not always, just when the young man had broken bones or would draw unnecessary attention by looking like the victim of domestic battery. The hitman always excuses it as simple efficiency – getting his teammate back into the field as fast as possible. It doesn't happen very often, Fon is the Greatest Martial Artist in the World, after all. And Fon taking him up on being healed is even more rare. Especially given the team's odd scheduling. They spend a month together, training and running missions, then they spend a month doing whatever it is they do on their own time. Renato works hard to keep up his reputation as a freelance hitman who is beholden to no one. Viper tends to disappear so they can get information, only reappearing so they can sell it. Verde has a lab somewhere that he works in. Skull does his stunt shows. Lal (and her fanboy) do assassinations and security stuff for whoever can afford them. Luce has the Giglio-Nero to run. And Fon goes back to the Wo Hop To Triad.

It's a workable arrangement, and Renato appreciates how it keeps life interesting. Also most of the 'Strongest' are so high-strung, it's almost too easy to mess with them.


	17. Chapter 14

After spending a year bouncing between the Arcobaleno and the Wo Hop To, Fon can really feel the clock ticking. His original estimate of Luce's pregnancy _was_ off, because it's only now that she's beginning to show. But there is another – more important – clock ticking down than the one to their Curse. Mei's eighteenth birthday. Once that hits, the Triad is going to try and exert more control, maybe even marry her off. It won't work. Mei would rebel. And because Fon wasn't around often enough to use as a proxy, her punishments would be increasingly painful.

So Fon prepared.

Paying Viper to make several, bulletproof identities for Mei was easy. The price for no one ever finding out was higher, but there was almost nothing Fon wasn't willing to pay. The martial artist did manage to negotiate it down to the contents of one of his bank accounts and two favors – so long as there was no harm to children involved.

The next step was a little more complicated. Mei was good, but now that Fon had access to the Best in the World, he didn't want to take any chances. Lal and Colonello are really the only choice for this. Luce is pregnant, and Fon doesn't trust her people. Verde – no, just no. Skull doesn't have any experience in stealth extractions beyond missions with the Arcobaleno. Viper would piss Mei off, and Mei would probably take it out on Fon later.

Renato… would end poorly. He'd try to flirt with Mei, and she'd try to kill him for it. And Mei is good enough that Renato would actually have to harm her to make her stop.

So Fon arranges to have lunch with Lal and Colonello. When they've settled in to the private booth and the waiter has left, Fon pulls out a picture. He has a surprising amount of them – Sifu has serious ninja-skills with a camera. This one is recent, though. He and Mei, side-by-side in the kitchen, making dinner. They're both smiling and they're resemblance is obvious.

"Could you get her out of the Wo Hop To compound without being noticed?"

"Easy. Do you want her hidden, or set up somewhere safe?" Lal is coolly confident as always.

"Just get her as far as you can. She'll have access to money and identities, and she can take care of herself from there."

Fon spends the next few minutes explaining the layout of the Wo Hop To compound and the usual guard rotation, before finishing off with saying that he'll have her ready to go at two in the morning on a date that he doesn't tell them is her birthday.

"Just one more thing. Who is she, kora?" Colonello can't help but ask, even as Lal elbows him.

"My little sister."

He can tell they have more personal questions, but they're too professional to ask them.

All that's left to do is wait. Wait and pack.

They never talk, when they're inside the compound. Only when they're left alone in the empty warehouse Fon trains his Flames in. But they don't have the opportunity to go there. The Wo Hop To may think Fon has submitted to their shackles, but they know in their hearts that Mei isn't. In the Wo Hop To, the eighteenth birthday is a turning point: new responsibilities to the Triad, new expectations for the family, new (supposed) freedoms as an adult.

Having her escape on her birthday is symbolic, and necessary. It is symbolically spitting in their face and saying that she won't be a part of this any longer. It is necessary because the Red Poles (enforcers) on down to the Blue Lanterns (the uninitiated members) will see her escape as a child growing up and leaving to find their own way. If Mei waited till she was older, not only would they try to tie her further into the Triad, but they would eventually decide that formally inducting her as a member would be the only way to do it. Then everyone would see it as a betrayal from one of their own. At that point, they wouldn't let her leave unless she slaughtered her way out.

Mei knows that Fon has arranged her escape for a very close point in the future. She just doesn't know any details. Fon knows she has a packed bad hidden in the ceiling of their room (they had never moved into separate rooms). He had already sewn cash and identities into the lining of the bag and a few of the clothes. Mei knows how to access the (many) bank accounts and stashes he's set up for her. Some are tied to the identities, some are joint accounts both of them can access, and a few are arranged so only she can get to them.

Fon doesn't bother to sleep that night, but he tells Mei to. She doesn't question him, but she is incredibly un-amused and Fon knows for a fact that she's going to make him pay for it. The Storm wistfully hopes that it will be soon.

At 1:45 am Fon feels the approach of Flames he has become remarkably familiar with. And that is the only reason he knows they're there; Lal and Colonello are professionals. If Fon wasn't specifically looking for them and know them as well as he does, he would never notice.

They appear at the window like ghosts. Mei wakes at the air displacement. A moment of pride and a wave of sadness pass through him almost simultaneously. She is so very talented, and wants more than anything in the world for her to use that talent as she wishes. To have honed that talent for something other than killing. But Fon can't change the past. He can only change her future.

(But is it really _changing_ anything, when he knows she gets free?)

(Or would she? Hibari Kyouya had seemed very alone in Namimori.)

They don't need to speak. Fon grabs her bag from where she hid it as she pulls on a pair of combat boots. He nods at Lal and Colonello, and hugs his sister tight.

Fon doesn't cry, but his eyes do water a little bit as he looks at Mei: already standing strong with her freedom in reach.

She leaves. Fon locks his feeling of loss in The Box, and enters deep meditation.

It's a good thing that he does. There are a noticeably high number of cancerous cells in him. They shouldn't be that high. It's only been two years since he Disintegrated them; Fon is supposed to have three years. Nothing really has changed. He hasn't changed his diet or sleep habits, he still gets regular exercise (and injuries that Renato has been kind enough to heal).

Injuries. Sun Flames. Activation.

Sun Flames Activate the natural healing process on a concentrated level. Healing relies on the production and multiplication of new cells. They probably Activated the production of the leukemia cells as well.

Using Concentrated Poison Disintegration takes up the rest of his night.

When morning comes, he goes about his day as normal: helping in the kitchens and beating his would-be rival to a pulp in the name of training. They don't immediately notice that Mei is missing. It's a fairly large compound, and no one thinks too much of the scary girl wanting a little time to herself on her birthday.

They definitely notice by dinner. They question Fon extensively as to her absence, but Fon maintains that he has no idea where she is. It's even true.

Fon gets brought before the Mountain Master two days later.

Everyone is absolutely certain he helped her disappear, but no one can prove it. It gets him the worst punishment he's ever experienced. Fon doesn't strictly remember it. At some point his head just switched off and it was someone else screaming and crying. He didn't pass out though. They wouldn't allow it.

All Fon knows for sure is that he hurts more than he's ever experienced in either life, but none of the damage is permanent. He's too valuable for that. They had to stitch up his back, after, but there's no long-lasting muscle or nerve damage. They had also carefully avoided breaking bones.

Sifu had explained it to him, after Fon had been left in his care.

It's worth it. Everything is worth it.

Mei is safe now. Someday, she'll have a child who will help save the world. Until he's old enough, Fon just has to maintain the status quo.


	18. Chapter 15

He's still moving slowly a few weeks later when it comes time to go back to the rest of the Arcobaleno. Fon's wounds have closed and the stitches have been removed, but it hurts. Again, it's worth it. Mei is free. The only people he has to watch over are Sifu's family.

The Arcobaleno can tell something is wrong – they're the best after all – but they haven't asked yet. It's not exactly the first time one of them has come back injured. He's fairly certain Lal has at least guessed the reason he's hurt; but she hasn't mentioned it and Fon is grateful.

Skull badgers him into helping the stuntman review the basics he's learned over the years. It's a very transparent attempt to keep him from his usual, rigorous morning katas. It's adorable and the Cloud seems worried enough that Fon allows himself to be distracted. The slow review of stances is accompanied by quiet chatting about Skull's latest performance. Fon is always amazed by what the young man can do on a motorcycle. Partially because he can't ride one; he's never learned how to drive either. In his last life his sister drove him around (for convenience and as an excuse to get her out of the house) or he could bike everywhere he needed to go. Then he was in the hospital and it just wasn't a priority. In this life, he was intentionally kept from learning by the Triad. They like to control him however they can, and limiting his methods of transportation is one way they do so.

Fon makes the mistake of admitting he doesn't know how to drive to the young Cloud. He doesn't say why he doesn't know, just that he never learned. Skull takes it very personally and whisks him away to the garage. Before he really knows it, he's behind the wheel of… some car? Skull had spit out a series of words and numbers that Fon's brain ignored. Driving is weird. Fon is used to knowing exactly where all of his limbs are at all times. This is like wrapping him in a bubble and having to account for where all the excess space is. He also can't get a good sense of where things are around him; the mirrors are weird and have blind spots and every time he twists around (which isn't much because it hurts) to look behind him, the car swerves.

It's a really good thing his reflexes are superhuman. It's also tricky to avoid leaning back against the seat. The pedals are weird too but Fon figures those out pretty fast. All the levers and stuff he generally leaves alone.

They go back to the mansion for lunch, and Fon immediately is dragged back out driving. Colonello joins them this time. Mostly because Lal threatened to shoot him if he didn't stop bugging her. Fon's certain that Lal would never kill Colonello, but he knows for a fact she has nothing against shooting him non-fatally to prove a point.

They've only been going for an hour or two and Fon figures he's doing okay. After all, Skull had directed him to a more heavily-trafficked area. He probably should have guessed that a stuntman and a career soldier weren't the best judges of these things, because he's seeing police lights behind him. The martial artist asks if they should slow down, already knowing the answer is no. Colonello has a rifle, at least two handguns, and a strap-thing of grenades on him; and that's just the stuff Fon can see in the rearview mirror. Skull is in full leather, but has left his helmet at the mansion, so the makeup and piercings are clearly visible. Fon himself, well – beyond being the most obviously foreign, wouldn't be able to stop himself from breaking limbs if they tried to rough him up. All in all, they may be eclectic for a group of punks, but there is no way the cops are going to let them go. Not even in the heart of mafia-controlled territory. And pulling the 'Strongest Seven' card is only going to get them challenged.

So Fon does the switching-gears thing and speeds up. The car weaves through traffic and back alleys at high speeds for a while, and pick up another two police cars in their little caravan.

(Seriously. Why is this his life? Why not Ouran High School Host Club? He seriously wants a vacation.)

He follows Skulls directions, and almost seems to be losing them for a little while. But the police know this area well, and Fon is very new at this for all his reflexes make it possible to avoid crashing. After no less than four scrapes against nearby cars, five near-misses involving pedestrians, and a moment of panic when he wound up on the wrong side of the road; Fon gives up and tells Skull to climb over him and take the wheel.

It's awkward maneuvering, but Skull ends up in the driver's seat while Fon curls in on himself on the passenger's side. He'd had to bend pretty strangely, which normally wouldn't even register, except the car had swerved and Fon knocked his back against something. He doesn't think he's torn anything open, but it certainly feels awful. Skull's driving isn't helping but they haven't exactly got many options.

He doesn't complain, just uses his arms to brace himself between the door and the seat. It leaves him with a good view of Colonello rolling down his window so he can lean out and shoot their pursuers' tires. The man really does have great aim. Fon wonders if it's natural or something Lal drilled into his head. That's another thing he's never done before – fire a gun. Hell, he's never even held one outside of combat situations in which he literally broke them out of people's hands. Or Disentigrated them _in_ people's hands. That's always funny.

Given how the adventure in driver's ed has turned out, Fon isn't going to mention marksmanship.

Skull gets them away from the cops and on the way back to Luce's property. It seems to take a while, but Fon can't tell if that's because he's in pain or because they really wound up that far away. Skull tells him that they're not too far away; he's just being cautious and taking a more round-about route. It makes sense. Especially given their current duties.

They aren't running missions as the 'Strongest Seven' right now. Luce is very pregnant and they have taken to playing extra security for her. Renato had been in something of a mood since she started showing. Fon can't remember if they have a thing or not. If they do, they've kept it discreet enough that Fon didn't pick up on it. He supposes he could pay Viper for the information, but it honestly doesn't make a difference to him.

It has led him to a realization though. Luce is carrying a child. An innocent child, Luce won't live to see grow up. A child who will be cursed to an equally short life, who will know with absolute certainty that she will never live outside the curse.

The child doesn't deserve this. None of them deserve this. Luce is taking that choice from her daughter, and from them. In a way, so is Fon. He knows there is light at the end of it all; that Renato's future student will save them. But the others have no way of knowing any of it, and so he asks Colonello and Skull a question.

"If you knew something bad was going to happen to you, but it was for a good reason, would you let it happen?" He tries to maintain his usual serenity, but something must have slipped.

"Fon is this about…" Colonello makes a vague gesture. It takes Fon a minute, but he realizes they think he's talking about his injuries.

"No, no, it's just a question," he protests, maybe a bit too quickly, "but if something horrible was going to happen, and you could stop it by allowing something less horrible to happen to you, would you want warning ahead of time?"

It's clear neither of them believe he's speaking in hypotheticals, but Fon is okay with letting them believe it's related to his injuries and not something else.

"Fon," Colonello says more softly than most would believe him capable, "is your sister alright, kora?"

There's something reassuring in that verbal-tic, and the way Fon can see Skull's grip on the steering wheel tightening.

"She's alright and she actually isn't the reason I'm asking." He smiles, managing serenity this time. "I'm just curious."

"Well, I'd like to know the reason," Skull announces, with all the bravado of someone ignoring the elephant in the room, "and maybe get a little heads up."

Colonello stares at Fon for a moment before giving up and answering.

"I guessed I'd prefer a warning, but I'm a soldier, kora. I don't need to know what the reasons are, just that there are good ones."

"Alright, thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

Asking the others is similar, but he manages to raise less alarms. He waits for an opportunity to be alone with each of them then plays up the zen-monk-warrior aesthetic. Seriously, Fon doesn't know where they got the idea that he knows anything about religion – let alone Buddhist monk philosophy. (In his last life, his family were Christmas-and-Easter lapsed Catholics. In this life, the Wo Hop To taught Buddhist beliefs the way he assumed the mafia taught Catholicism: twisted to justify their actions.) It's probably because he meditates and drinks tea.

By phrasing the question as a meditative exercise, Fon gets answers without getting much more than a raised eyebrow. Well, he had to bribe Viper with lunch and Verde needed some convincing that there was an actual point. And he didn't ask Luce, because it's one thing for her to suspect he knows; it's a whole other thing for her to know he knows. But the rest of the Strongest Seven eventually humored him, given they had nothing better to do. (If they hadn't been bored out of their minds waiting for Luce to give birth, they probably would have asked more questions.)

Lal was pretty much the same as Colonello, not that Fon expected any different. Viper was always in favor of knowledge, especially if it was relevant to their future condition. Verde said 'knowledge of an experiments outcome would invalidate the results,' but agreed that the 'hypotheses of other individuals could be relevant' (Fon was going to take that as a yes, he would like to know, but he wasn't necessarily going to believe it). Renato had actually gotten really into it. Fon forgets sometimes that Reborn's character was actually a huge nerd who likes to be an expert at everything. The resulting debate ended with the conclusion that Renato was as skeptical as Verde, but more appreciative of advanced warnings.

So now all Fon has left to do is find a way to warn them, without actually telling them what's going to happen and completely throwing off the future.

(Seriously, why him?)


	19. Chapter 16

The Strongest Seven were all in Luce's home the day Aria of the Giglio-Nero came into the world. She's tiny, and she has the beginnings of Luce's features. (Fon still can't for the life of him tell if Luce and Renato have a thing.) Fon gets to hold her sometimes, when Luce has to deal with her Famiglia. Aria seems to like him; at least, she cries less for him than she does with most of the staff (and most of the Seven – they're not nurturing people by nature). Aria is an absolute sweetheart, Fon thinks her seer-ability lets her know that she's safe with him (that he'd rather cut off his hands than drop her). It had surprised him the first time she had been left in his care instead of a nanny's. It probably shouldn't have; Luce is a seer and most definitely knows about Mei.

It definitely surprises the others though. Seeing a man they've watched snap necks carry a baby really throws them for a loop. Even if Renato and Viper don't really have visible reactions, Fon loves watching everyone twitch. He enjoys their cognitive dissonance for weeks before he has to go back to the Wo Hop To.

When he gets back, it's to the cold shock that Sifu died and no one told him. Fon knew that it wouldn't have changed anything, but he would have liked to have been there for the person who had essentially been his father in this life. There is also the bittersweet knowledge that Sifu's grandchild was going to come into the world in a few months' time. He's going to be gone for that too; back with the Arcobaleno. It feels like a betrayal, except he never made anyone (except Mei) any promises and Ping would never ask him to 'protest' his orders.

The Triad is pretending like Mei never existed. On the one hand, it is a relief to have everything swept under the rug. On the other, they are clearly ticked at him about the whole situation, and if he was anyone else, he would be outright twitchy with nerves.

But he isn't anyone else, and the whole situation gets bundled up in that tiny, tangled ball of emotion tucked away in his chest. And he keeps smiling and waiting for everything to blow up in his face.

Aria's birth had kick-started his mental countdown to the Curse. He doesn't have enough information to know when precisely it will happen, but he knows it going to be soon.

 _Before_ , Fon hadn't really paid too much attention to the Arcobaleno's timeline. It had been a story, and for years it had remained a story _here_. But he knows that Aria had been very young when the Curse happened.

In fact, he's pretty sure canon had implied Luce was pregnant when the Curse was applied.

That would be absolutely ridiculous though. This entire world may work off of bullshit manga-physics, but Luce – let alone Aria – would have never survived that.

At least the missions the Wo Hop To give him are heavily combat oriented. They might actually be trying to have him killed, because he keeps having to fight large groups and winds up in an ambush every other week. This is very good for his temper, as without the outlet he might have done something drastic.

And it's not like anything they throw him into would actually succeed in killing him. First, because he is the Greatest Martial Artist in the World, and that title was earned. Second, his skills have never been better, what with all the weird situations the Seven Strongest get into. (Even when they're not looking for trouble, it always finds them. Fon is considering bringing it up to Verde, because statistically they should have had at least one quiet mission.) Third, Fon refuses to allow himself to die before he has fulfilled his role.

He is not going to leave some poor random Storm stuck with this job.

Before he leaves for his month with the Arcobaleno, Fon checks in on Ping. She has the same resigned dignity she always had, just with the addition of pregnancy. There is a quiet strength to her that she rarely allows to show. So rarely, in fact, that it was only recently that it was revealed.

When Ping and her (generic, Triad-raised, undeserving) husband had received the news that their child was going to be a girl, the bastard had immediately wanted to schedule an abortion. It wasn't uncommon. Sons were highly valued and with the new One Child Policy, no one wanted to waste their one shot with a girl.

Ping held firm. With a spine of absolute steel she had informed her husband (and later, the entirety of the Triad) that she would be having this baby. If anyone had any objections, they could take them to the dojo, and she would explain to them why she would not be argued with.

She had also made a very good point about how members of the Wo Hop To spent all their lives against the law, why would they follow it when the government tried to regulate the population?

Not only did she defend her unborn daughter, she also forced the entire Triad to agree with her out of sheer embarrassment. Fon wants to be her when he grows up.

So when he checks on her, it is with the knowledge that she doesn't need anything from him. Sifu's daughter may not have chosen this life or her role in it, but she makes it work. Sometimes he really needs that reminder.

And that reminder is what he clings to when he goes back to the Arcobaleno and his carefully constructed reality starts crumbling.

He has a routine when he's at the Giglio-Nero compound: wake up before the sun, meditate, perform his morning katas, have tea and watch the sunrise.

When he walks into the kitchen to prepare his tea, he finds Mei sitting at the counter.

She is healthy, and seems happy if the smug smirk is anything to go by. And he is so, so unspeakably relieved to see her. Fon wasn't sure he'd be able to see her again before getting Cursed. But. But this. This isn't a safe place. This isn't a place he. This isn't anywhere near where he hoped his newly-free sister would be. As much as he (very reluctantly) likes the Arcobaleno, Fon doesn't trust them. In combat, on a mission, with his life: definitely. With the most important thing in his world: not one of them.

Viper is mercenary to the core; they don't have limits that can't be bought. Admittedly, their rates for information on people they work with regularly are so astronomically high; they would bankrupt a mid-sized Famiglia, but they can still be bought.

Renato would consider it 'bad business' to harm an ally's family. But here's no guarantee he wouldn't use Mei against Fon later, if he ever thought Fon was becoming a threat.

Verde had absolutely no concerns about morality. If he thought it was 'scientifically necessary' or expedient to do anything, he would do it.

Lal and Colonello are soldiers. If their orders called for it, they would come after Mei.

Skull would never intentionally do something. But out of all the Arcobaleno, he's the one people would go after. What the stuntman doesn't know can't be tortured or tricked out of him later.

And Luce. Luce is manipulating all of them. Fon doesn't know if anything would prevent her from using Mei as leverage if she felt he wasn't cooperating with 'fate.'

Instead of trying to usher his sister out or asking how she got in, Fon adds his panic to the little bundle of emotion and makes an extra cup of tea. Everything else can wait.

They watch the sunrise together.


	20. Chapter 17

Mei's visit had been like a brief glimpse of sunlight after a very long period of rain. When you knew that there was an even longer period of rain coming. They had quietly wandered the Giglio-Nero property, mostly avoiding the Arcobaleno. Luce and Aria were elsewhere, probably by design now that Fon thinks about it. Verde hadn't left his (incredibly creepy) basement laboratory. Viper was likely spying via Mist Flames, opting to disappear instead of interact. Skull was performing at one of his stunt shows. Lal and Colonello had been by very briefly, before Lal had dragged Colonello off with complaints about his supposed complacency. Fon is pretty sure it was actually an excuse for the Rains to give him and his sister some privacy.

Of course, their efforts were immediately made pointless when it came to Renato. The Sun (nosy gossip that he was) had inserted himself into their company and refused to leave. Fon did take some satisfaction in Mei's ability to avoid the hitman's intrusive questions. His sister's icy smirk complements her bloodthirsty eyes in a way most people would find unsettling. Renato apparently found it attractive, judging by the flirting.

Fon has always considered Mei to be free to do as she pleases (now that she's an adult), but it was still incredibly weird. Not that he had let on about noticing; pretending to not understand certain implications is sometimes the only defense against insanity.

Mei eventually departed, with the customary hugs and judgmental comments on Fon's eating habits. Fon had slipped all the cash he had on hand into her pockets during the hug. He hadn't asked where she was going, and she hadn't told him.

The rest of the day was spent wandering passively from one activity to the next. Fon knew he would later not be able to say what he did or what he thought about. It was just so incredibly odd to have his two worlds collide, that he wasn't sure he would be able to separate them out again.

Thankfully, his (admittedly) melodramatic brooding was interrupted by a mission briefing.

Luce gives the briefing, but isn't going to come with them. Honestly, for all her power as a Sky, she wasn't much of a combatant and it was easier to have her stay back. Her abilities were primarily channeled into diplomacy and seeing the future, so the Donna of the Giglio-Nero would help with mission planning.

It is apparently just another smash-and-grab. The only thing that makes it 'worth their time' (Renato-speak for a job where it wouldn't be complete overkill to call in the World's Strongest) is the target: a very suspicious lab run by a small coalition of minor famiglias. The names didn't jog any memories, so Fon figures it isn't an important plot point. Verde had snorted and looked down his nose, mumbling about children's science fair projects. No one had been willing to ask.

The one thing that really worried Fon, was the fact that Luce was suppressing giggles the entire briefing. She sent them off with a smile poorly hidden behind her hand.

Really, the first thing that should have been an indicator was where the lab was hidden: underneath a zoo. In the moment, Fon thought it was a little weird, but was really just relieved it wasn't another cliché abandoned warehouse. As secret hideouts went, people tended to be either way too movie villain (abandoned warehouse) or well-disguised (normal office building).

(Actually, the office building had been so normal Fon almost freaked out when they entered. At this point in his life, he's so used to insanity that 'normal' just screams 'trap.')

Also, given how extra the mafia tended to be, a zoo fit right in with the aesthetic.

It wasn't much of a fight once Viper found the secret entrance. Verde disabled their security system almost as soon as they found it. He had as few choice words about "people these days, calling themselves scientists." Renato was striding ahead with his usual flair, though this easy of a mission was usually 'beneath him.' Luce had pouted at him till he agreed.

(Fon might be being uncharitable or reading their relationship entirely wrong, but the two of them always made him feel like he was interrupting someone's relationship drama.)

Either way, it's not like the security on the lab is enough for them to break a sweat. When they finally get to the innermost room in the facility, Fon realizes why Luce was giggling.

Their parameters for the mission were to steal all the prototypes and destroy any research Verde couldn't make use of. Fon really should have remembered exactly what Verde was so known for in the future. Sure he was a crazy genius who came up with a lot of stuff, but it was the box weapons that the fandom remembered him by.

Inside the lab is a row of seven cages, each one containing a different animal. Very familiar animals. He is seriously living in a manga. How did he manage to forget that the Arcobaleno had animal companions? Leon had been a signature element of Reborn's character!

Suddenly remembering does not prepare him for how cute they are. Especially the baby monkey.

Coming back to himself, Fon starts the process of removing the cute little things from their cages. It would likely be more efficient to use the cages to transport them, but Fon doesn't like confining living things. The monkey makes itself (himself?) at home on Fon's shoulder, leaving him free to carry the eagle and the octopus. The chameleon takes an immediate liking to Renato's hat, and the squirrel seems content to let the Sun carry him (her?). Viper and the frog (toad? Seriously, Fon knows nothing about animals) come to an agreement; and when Verde finishes glancing over the files and doing something with the computers, he picks up the baby crocodile (alligator? How do people tell the difference?).

Part of Fon is drawn to these animals because they are absolutely adorable and he knows they're going to be important to them. But something about the monkey in particular is catching his attention.

By the time they get back to headquarters, Fon mostly has a theory. The animals are sensitive, if not reactive, to Flames; and Lichi (long story short: Mei has started slipping snacks into his pockets the same way he slips money into hers, and the monkey had taken a preference for the fruit) seemed to be most attuned with Storm Flames. The result seems to be that the animals are most drawn to persons with their Flame type, and vice versa.

Verde had further explained once they were all sitting at the table. These animals, once they had chosen a person, would be tied to their Flames. So long as the person had a surplus of Flames, the animal would feed off them. From the research, the experiment was deemed a flawed prototype because only people with a truly ridiculous amount of Flames would be able to sustain a familiar without noticeable side effects.

Fon gave Luce a round of applause. Her ability to manipulate what she sees to reach her desired outcome is truly impressive. She had even managed to get Skull, Lal, and Colonello back to headquarters in time to great the rest of the team.

Lichi is a sweetheart. He seems to alternate between crouching on Fon's shoulder and climbing into his arms like a small child. If Fon didn't know better, he'd say Mei trained the little guy; because if he was hungry, Lichi didn't stop badgering him until both of them ate. Cheeky thing. Fon knew he was going to appreciate the little guy's companionship in the days to come.


	21. Chapter 18

The anticipation is leaving him twitchy. Normally, Fon fakes patience so well that people assume he doesn't actually understand what's going on. But this whole thing is an order of magnitude beyond anything he's dealt with before.

Thankfully, he's been able to disguise his restlessness through his interactions with Lichi. Whenever the urge to do something gets too much, he'll just indulge his cute little animal companion. It's not like he's the only one doing that anyway. Skull is completely enamored with Oodako and has been training him so they can perform together. Fon's pretty sure they're also testing if Skull can use Cloud Flames to make Oodako bigger.

The others are much less obvious about their affection for their little Flame pets. Falco seems to like Colonello better than Lal, but both of them have taken to feeding the bird. Keiman has his own little habitat in Verde's lab and seems to be exempt from experimentation. Cosmo splits his time between Aria's crib and Luce's hat. Fon has no idea what the heck is going on with Viper and their pet, but he's pretty sure Fantasma has learned to use Viper's Flames to change shape. Or Viper is intentionally giving that impression.

Leon and Renato are definitely the weirdest. The chameleon has learned to turn into weaponry, and immediately adapts to all of the Sun's weird cosplay disguises. What. The. Heck.

It all makes for a very pleasant distraction, and Fon is disappointed when reality interrupts.

The Seven of them are gathered in Luce's dining room for a briefing. It makes for a very interesting coincidence that Colonello has been away on his own mission the past few days.

The assignment is theoretically simple. Their mysterious employer (Checkerface) wants them to meet an informant for an information drop, but it seems like a double-cross. Instead, they are to set up in the location ahead of time so they can ambush whatever small army is going to be backing up the informant. The site is at the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere with scattered rocks and intermittent tree-cover. Anyone less than the best would have a hard time going unnoticed.

Fon knows this is it the moment he sees the picture of the location. This is the Fated Day.

The others are as confident as always. It doesn't help that Luce is coming along on this one, as the informant's contact. They've taken to trusting her foresight. Sure, she's hidden things before, but usually they are minor things which are for her own amusement. After all, a professional would inform their allies of anything actually important to the mission.

In the day before the mission, Fon takes a moment to find each of the Seven individually. He sits with Luce and holds Aria for a while, neither of them speaks. If she is aware that he knows about the Curse, the Sky doesn't say. He regrets having to put Aria down, because this is the last time he'll be able to hold her.

Next, he goes for Renato and finds him in the kitchen, cleaning his guns. The Storm makes oolong tea for himself and a cappuccino for the hitman.

"Tomorrow is going to end badly."

"Luce would tell us to change the plan if it was going to fail."

"Not if the alternative is worse." The Storm keeps his expression completely blank.

"Your instincts tell you that?"

"Not instinct, so much as something my spirit knows from a past life." He sips his tea, "It's unlikely any of us will die, at any rate."

"I'll… keep that in mind."

Fon finishes his tea. Hopefully Renato will take the warning; but he probably won't. Fon's conscience is clear.

He has a similar conversation with Viper, who says that all their intel points to this being just as easy as the briefing claimed it would be, but did at least pretend to listen. Unlike Verde, who stares him down and asks if he can draw blood for an experiment. Lal thanks him for the warning, but says that she is a soldier and she knows the risks.

"Really, missions can go wrong at any time. This one is no different."

"I am actually completely certain that it will be."

"Then we'll figure it out. You've got to learn to be more adaptable."

Which was absolutely rich, coming from the mercenary who still referred to herself and her apprentice as soldiers of the Italian special ops team they had been discharged from years earlier.

Skull, by comparison, is gratifyingly serious. For a moment. The Cloud reminds him way, way too much of his kid brother from _before_.

"None of our missions ever turn out completely straight forward anyway. You said you didn't think any of us were going to die?" At Fon's nod, his solemn expression breaks into a wide grin, "Then the Great Immortal Stuntman can deal with anything life throws at him."

At that moment, Fon decides there is nothing more he can do. If they are arrogant enough to walk into a trap they were warned about, Fon is going to let them. He should be happy. If they took him seriously, they wouldn't be Cursed and things would change. But Fon isn't a horrible enough person to be happy about this. He's done a lot of terrible things, and maybe he deserves what's coming, but if there was a way the Storm could take the entirety of the Curse on himself, he would.

The next day, they are making their way up the hill and all Fon can feel is dread. It's dark and creepy, and Fon is absolutely sure that this situation deserves horror-movie background music. Concentrating, he can feel Colonello keeping pace behind them. At least one person around here is appropriately paranoid.

Too soon, they reach the designated location. They gather in the center of a ring of trees, for what all the other's think is going to be a normal discussion of last-minute tasks. The martial artist couldn't resist shifting to a ready stance, though he manages to keep his faces serene. The others finally seem to be picking up on his unease, because they are eyeing their surroundings and readying their weapons.

"The lack of wildlife is fascinating."

"By 'fascinating,'" Lal scoffs, "you must mean clearly suspicious. I hate to say it, but Fon you're probably right about this being a trap."

"Not that it's going to slow us down any." Renato smirks, "We're the World's Stronges-"

Light cuts him off. It doesn't seem to have any origin, just coming from everywhere. Before it completely blinds him, Fon can see Colonello's silhouette moving toward Lal.

It's the Curse. The Storm can't see the others. For a moment, he thinks he can hear them, but then he realizes it's his own screams. They cut off quickly once he runs out of air. It's almost like being burned up from the inside. Like the nightmares he sometimes has about his Flames. Except that it can't be his Flames burning him up, because they are currently being torn away, left connected by only the most fragile of threads. When the martial artist reaches for them (because he can't resist anymore) all he gets is a flare of pain not dissimilar to trying to move a broken limb. Everything is very far away. Like someone else is going through this instead.

Fon isn't sure how long it took, but eventually he comes out of it. Everything hurts. Bones, organs, skin; everything feels like it was compressed.

There's really only one thing he can do.

An interesting result of the _now_ and _before_ is the way he thinks about language. Things like names, foods, and directions are primarily interpreted in English because that was essentially his first language. But things like idioms and slang he tends to think of in Cantonese and Italian because those are the languages he uses and hears most frequently.

So when he starts cussing out Checkerface, he starts in Cantonese. He's picked up a lot of good swears through the Triad. Most of them involve the personality traits and sexual habits of the alien's ancestors. He follows it up with several phrases in Japanese and Mandarin that probably lacked originality, but were very heartfelt all the same.

By the time he gets to Italian, Fon is questioning what farm animal Checkerface's mother had relations with in order to result in him. Finishing off in English, Fon resorts to a string of four-letter words that don't actually make sense in that order.

In any other situation, the others probably would have found it funny; given it all came out in a squeaky and unintelligible toddler's voice.


End file.
